The Sterling Bulletin

The Old Home Editor

January 19, 1967



Our business neighbor, Mrs. Josephine Bruer possessed that eternally cheerful outlook of the Christian Science follower. It was always "a beautiful day" even if it was snowing like crazy.



In the last year or so her sight had failed and she was in the back of the café it was difficult for her to distinguish a face as customers entered.



However, she never failed to greet us with the correct name.



"How could you tell who it was?" we inquired.

"I could see your pipe."



But we always had the sneaking feeling that what she really meant was she could smell the darn thing.



Since selling her large home on East Monroe some 15 years ago, Mrs. Bruer had made her home in the rear of the café. This meant that she had been right there in the building 24 hours a day, seven days a week without very many days off. But it can be truthfully said that she liked being "up town" where the people are.



As for the pipe. For many years, Bruer's was the only place between Kansas City and Denver where we could buy Old Style pipe tobacco, unquestionably the foulest and most potent mixture ever poked into a bowl. And it is stout. Ted Terrell was about the only other fellow in town who could stand up under it. Actually, it doesn't even look like tobacco. It comes in two kinds of rather plain, paper sacks red and blue. Even Mrs. Bruer, who had handled it for half a century could not tell us the difference between the kinds.



It was our contention that the "red" was swept from the floor of warehouse "A," and the "blue" from the floor of warehouse "B." It has that appearance.







Long-time resident dies yesterday



Mrs. Josephine A. Bruer, of Sterling, 87, died yesterday at 3 p.m. in the Sterling Community hospital after an illness of several months. She had entered the hospital Saturday. Born in Stafford county on a claim eight miles southwest of Raymond, June 7, 1879, she married George W. Bruer, September 29, 1897. He died May 12, 1940. She lived in the Sterling community since 1883. She owned the Bruer cafe.



She was a member of the Mother Church First Church of Christ Science of Boston, Massachusetts, and had been a science reader of the Sterling Christian Science for eight years.



Survivors include one son J. Ellery of Sterling; 12 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.



Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Porter and Sillin Funeral home in Sterling. Joseph E. Beyer, Jr. will be the science reader. Burial will be in the Sterling community cemetery.



Friends may call at the funeral home after 6 p.m. this evening.



This article was written in the middle of Josephine's obituary:



The death of Josephine A. Bruer of Sterling, 87, brought to a close what was undoubtedly one of the longest business careers in the history of Rice county.



Mrs. Bruer became a citizen of Sterling May, 1883, as a youngster of four, and on September 20, 1897, the Bruer cafe was started. It has been in continuous operation since that day.



Her son, J Ellery Bruer, has managed the business since her retirement. However, she still visited the business on a daily schedule.







Ends Sixty-Nine Years on Broadway



Mrs. Josephine A. Bruer, Sterling's oldest business person from standpoint of continuous proprietorship, died Sunday afternoon at the local hospital at the age of 87.



Mrs. Bruer, owner of Bruer's cafe and bus agency, had been in business on Broadway for 69 years. With her husband, the late George Bruer, she opened the Bruer Cafe here on September 20, 1897.



The firm was initially located in the building occupied by Maurice Schmitt's barber shop. They later moved to the present location of the Rodger's store where they operated a dining room, in addition to the counter and soda fountain, serving civic clubs and other organizations. Following Mr. Bruer's death in 1940, Mrs. Bruer later moved to the Cafe's present location. From 1940 until her son Ellery joined her here a few years ago she operated the business alone.



In addition to her lengthy career in the cafe business, Mrs. Bruer was the oldest bus agent in the Central division of the Continental Bus Company. The cafe served as local agent from the day the first bus ran through Sterling, probably about 1920. The first bus was known as the "paper car," an auto which hauled the daily newspapers and transported occasional passengers. Later followed the Central Kansas Bus Company, the Cardinal Bus Line, Santa Fe and finally Continental. Mrs. Bruer had been in ill health for about two months. She had been a patient at the local hospital three times in recent months, entering there again the day before her death.



Mrs. Bruer was born June 7, 1879, on a homestead eight miles southwest of Raymond, in Stafford county, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Beyer.



She was married to George W. Bruer on September 29, 1897, at Sterling and had made her home here since 1883.



She was a member of the Mother Church First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston, Mass. She served as a reader in the Sterling Christian Science Church for eight years.



Survivors include a son, J. Ellery Bruer of Sterling; 12 grandchildren; 24 great-great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. Glen Bruer, who has been assisting at the Cafe is a grandson. Louis Elbl, her business neighbor for many years is a nephew. A son, Harold Bruer died in 1964.



Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Porter Sillin Funeral Home with Joseph E. Beyer, Jr. of Hutchinson officiating.



Burial was in the Sterling Community Cemetery.



Most Sterling business houses were closed during the service in honor of the veteran Sterling businesswoman.