Obituary of Freida Higginbotham Bruer

Mrs. Freida Vernal Higginbotham Bruer, 94, of Daleville, died Saturday, November 28, 2015, at her home. Funeral services will be 2:30 P. M. Tuesday, December 1, 2015, from Daleville Baptist Church with Reverend Jim Peters officiating. Entombment will follow in Woodlawn Memory Gardens, Holman Funeral Home and Cremations of Ozark directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Monday evening from 5:00 P. M. until 7:00 P. M. Mrs. Bruer was born September 9, 1921 in Bouvier, Missouri to the late Dred Hollis Higginbotham and Emma Mae Cates Higginbotham. She married her late husband March 13, 1949 in Trieste, Italy and honeymooned in Venice, Italy. They lived in various places while he served in the United States Army and eventually made Daleville their home. Mrs. Bruer worked as a Real Estate Manager, beginning her career by building two houses in Alaska ordering supplies from the Sears and Robuck catalog. She later bought a mobile home court based on a hand-shake. Mrs. Bruer never wanted to be thought of as not civic minded or lazy. She served as vice chairperson on the Daleville City Schools Board from 1964 until 1968, President of the Daleville Chamber of Commerce 1977-1978, and member of the Dale Medical Center Board of Directors 1992-1994. She served on the USS Alabama Battleship Commission from 1977 until 1999 and as the chairperson from 1989-1990, the only woman among the eighteen members at the time of her appointment by the governor. Mrs. Bruer had many special friends who helped to make her life easier. She was a member of Daleville Baptist Church. As Mrs. Bruer said “Life has been a lot of things for me, but never dull. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Major Joseph Clair Bruer, Sr. Survivors include one son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Dennie Ann Bruer, Jr. of New Brockton; one grandson, Joe C. Bruer, III and wife,p Kimberly; one great granddaughter, Emma Claire Bruer; sister-in-law, Nancy Bowles; several nieces, nephews and cousins. She also claims as her family the 80th Helicopter Unit, the USS Alabama Battleship Commission, her sisters in Christ, Marty Gillihouse, and Holly Martin. The family would like to extend a special thanks to the Daleville Police Department. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Attn; Tribute Department, St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tennessee 38105; or to the Wounded Warrior Project, P. O. Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8517. Service Information