Evelyn Brandt Thomas
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, since 1963, the State Journal-Register, the oldest newspaper in Illinois, has awarded its First Citizen Award to residents of Springfield who have selflessly given their time and resources to help and serve others. This year, the State Journal- Register has selected a central Illinois legend to receive its 2022 First Citizen Award: businesswoman and philanthropist, Evelyn Brandt Thomas.
If you ask Evelyn Brandt Thomas how she is doing, she often replies, ``Better than I deserve.'' She is a true pioneer with deep roots in central Illinois. Evelyn was born in 1923 on a farm in Salisbury Township, just outside of Pleasant Plains. Her father, Albert Brandt, raised horses for the first 12 years of her life. And as life on a farm goes, Evelyn had to do it all. She would handle tractors, gather eggs, and milk the cows, all without the luxuries of electricity or indoor plumbing.
She was ahead of her time. Evelyn graduated from Springfield High School at just 16 years old and went on to receive a degree in accounting from Illinois Business College, an impressive feat at a time when women had few higher education opportunities and even fewer prospects in the fields of business and accounting.
After several years of working in advertising, in the early 1950s, Evelyn and her younger brother, Glen--``GB'' for short--founded Brandt Fertilizer, a company that sold liquid fertilizer to central Illinois farms. At the time, dry fertilizer dominated the local market, but it also would come in heavy, 50-lb. bags that farmers would have to haul all across the farm. GB and Evelyn recognized a need and seized on the opportunity. Their original motto was, ``All You Have to Do is Lift the Hose.'' GB relied on his ``gift of gab'' going farm-to-farm selling this new product to make farmers lives easier while Evelyn handled the financials, which she watched like a hawk. Evelyn and GB were quite the duo, building their business on the principles of honesty and hard work.
Their principles paid off. What started as a liquid fertilizer company operating out of a truck and an office has now grown into BRANDT Consolidated, Inc., a successful agricultural business that sells products in more than 45 countries, has several hundred employees, and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year. And it is still a family business. GB's son and Evelyn's nephew, Rick Brandt, has served as CEO and president since 1995.
But Evelyn's long list of accomplishments goes far beyond profits and sales. Over the years, she has pursued a number of philanthropic projects and given back to central Illinois and the region. She has been a champion of education--especially in encouraging more women to explore careers in agriculture--supporting a variety of institutions of higher learning, like the University of Illinois Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College, as well as nonprofits like the Education Center for the Visually Impaired. Evelyn has established scholarships at the University of Illinois Springfield--UIS--and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She continues to support 4-H, the youth development nonprofit organization where she met her late husband Gordon, and the Future Farmers of America--an organization that prepares young people to be leaders in business and agriculture.
In her work with the Education Center for the Visually Impaired, Evelyn has sought to improve the quality of life for people who are blind or visually impaired. In doing so, she has helped to provide education, training, and development opportunities through services and programs.
For her decades of work, Evelyn has received numerous awards. She received the ATHENA International Award presented by the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce in 2009, a Doctor of Humane Letters award from UIS in 2014, and was inducted into the Senior Illinoisans Hall of Fame in 2020.
I have also been glad to get to know Evelyn's family over the years. In 2019, I worked with Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to help the Brandt family secure the specialized World War II license plate, ``GB,'' in honor of his military service. GB passed away in June 2020 at the age of 94. In January 2020, we held a press event at BRANDT Consolidated, Inc., to celebrate the benefits of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for the agriculture production industry and the Brandt family's global leadership.
How is Evelyn doing? I would say she is doing pretty well for a farm girl from central Illinois. And she deserves it. Evelyn and her family are a true Illinois success story. I want to thank Evelyn for her many years of service to the central Illinois community and congratulate her for receiving the State Journal-Register's 2022 First Citizen Award. Illinois is grateful for all of her service and sacrifice.
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