BRUST FUNERAL HOME

HISTORIC BUSINESS IN LOMBARD

Brust Funeral Home located at 135 S. Main Street, opened in Lombard in 1952. Jack Brust followed the steps of his father Fred, who had worked in a funeral home in Maywood in 1915, started his own funeral home in a historic 1850’s farmhouse he remodeled in downtown Lombard.

According to John Brandon Brust, president and CEO of Brust Funeral Home Ltd., his Dad had actually started the Lombard home against his father’s advice. Even though our family had lived in the Lilac Town for generations, his grandfather felt that this was too far out in the country for a second funeral home to survive.

However, two years later his grandfather left the funeral home in Maywood where he had worked and Grandfather and Grandmother Eileen, joined in with his parents, Jack and Anita, to run the Lombard home,” added John Brust. Anita’s family had roots in York Center since the 1840’s. Her mother’s family name was Deicke. The same German name used for the Lombard Deicke Home for the Retarded.

Jack Brust immediately threw himself into building up the town where his ancestors had homesteaded. He founded the Lombard Chamber of Commerce and in the 1950’s he resurrected the Lilac Parade. In addition, he served as president of the Lombard Friends of the Library and was a member of the Board of Governors of Elmhurst Hospital. Jack Brust was a founder of the DuPage Funeral Directors Association and was a member and past president of the Lombard Rotary Club. Moreover, he was a member of the Lombard Lions Club and received an award from the FAA for his work on a large commercial airliner crash in Westmont in 1960. Jack Brust was also Grand Marshall of the Lilac Parade twice.

In addition, Jack continued to build his business. The core of that original farmhouse is still contained within the walls of the Brust Funeral Home. In 1958 Jack added on to the old house and 10 years later he gave the building its current brick façade.

John Brandon Brust joined his father in the business during 1978 and in 1990 he purchased Jack’s interest in the Lombard funeral home. Another son, Jim, had founded his own funeral home with Jack in Carol Stream during 1985.

In 1995 John purchased an existing funeral home in Villa Park that he still operates. Then, in 2011, he remodeled the Lombard home, updating the 10,000-square-foot facility that now employs seven full-time and 12 part-time people.

A Lombard Funeral at Brust Funeral Home and St. Pius X Catholic Church in the Diocese of Joliet

On the day Roberto Hung was abused and throttled by Respiratory Therapist Ben Aguilar at Vencor Northlake Hospital, June 18, 1998, I called St. John Bosco Church at Northlake to see what happened to my Father as a patient. Afterwards, I drove back to Brust Funeral Home on Main Street in Lombard to arrange for the Autopsy by Shaku Teas M.D., forensic pathologist contracted by John Brust in Lombard, Illinois.

Brust Funeral Home’s manager J. Foreman began to plan Roberto Hung’s Visitation and Funeral Mass at St. Pius X Catholic Church on June 25, 1998–one week after Respiratory Therapist Ben Aguilar had murdered the patient Roberto Hung by shattering the tracheostomy and puncturing his heart early in the morning, around 7:00 a.m. at Vencor Northlake Hospital.

When I returned back to our Lombard home in District 5, I called St. Pius X Catholic Church, one block away to talk to Sister Pauline Schultz, the Franciscan nun who arranges the Funeral Mass for the parishioners in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois USA. Soprano Jean Ceithaml sang the Ave Maria. The funeral flower arrangements were ordered from Blossoms and left at St. Pius X. In addition, I paid in cash $500 by check to St. Pius X for the Funeral Mass Services on June 25, 2012.

On Roberto Hung’s Funeral Day, very few people from the Village of Lombard attended. No one from the Lombard Town Hall nor the Lombard Police or Fire Department sent any sympathy cards or donations nor any monetary contributions for me or my family as Lombard resident homeowners in bereavement and loss of a family member. None from DuPage County government mailed any sympathy card either for Roberto Hung’s funeral day at St. Pius X Catholic Church in the Village of Lombard, after the Lombard resident homeowner and taxpayer spent all of his Illinois retirement income and funds in DuPage County, York Township, District 5.

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A Chili Cook-Off Contest at St. Pius X Community Parish

Amazingly, the winners of the Annual Chili Cook-Off Contest have been men while Reverend Herb Essig, better known as “Father Herb” was still around St. Pius X. When one thinks of a “BallyKissAngel” community named after the BBC soap opera sitcom, an English-Irish-Scottish Catholic community comes to mind…just like St. Pius X Catholic Parish in the Village of Lombard, County of DuPage, otherwise known also as “Camelot” in Illinois, U.S.A.

For three (3) years, I volunteered to cook, stir, taste, and serve Chili con Carne, chili dogs, and sloppy joe burgers with the Catholic Council of Women at the Social Center for St. Pius X throughout the years, especially for the Annual Chili Cook-Off Contest and Catholic Women fundraiser. CCW gathered the People of Pius X to cook off their best chili con carne recipe to make chili hot dogs and sloppy joe chili burger, always sponsored and promoted by a solid Texan Linnea Warda, Carol, Rosa and others who slaved to make the Annual Chili Cook-Off Contest a celebrity show at the Social Center for the catholic school community. Here’s a solid Atomic Canuck Chili Recipe for ten (10) servings

•2 pounds lean ground beef
•1/2 large onion, diced
•1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
•3 tablespoons garlic powder
•1 tablespoon seasoned pepper
•2 (4 ounce) cans mushroom pieces, drained
•1 (28 ounce) can baked beans
•2 (15.25 ounce) cans kidney beans with liquid
•2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
•1/4 cup white sugar
•3 carrots, sliced
•3 stalks celery, sliced
•1 green bell pepper, diced
•1 red bell pepper, diced
•2 jalapeno chile peppers, diced
•1/4 cup Canadian beer
•2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
•hot sauce
•1/4 cup barbeque sauce
Directions1. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef together with onion, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and seasoned pepper. Drain off the fat, and place the mixture into a slow cooker. 2. Stir mushrooms, baked beans, kidney beans with liquid, tomato paste, sugar, carrots, celery, peppers, beer, and barbeque sauce into the slow cooker. Season with hot sauce and more crushed red pepper. 3. Cover, and cook on Low for 4 to 5 hours. Yields 10 servings.