Elsie E Brielmaier

Mankato Mortuary
1001 N. Riverfront Drive
Mankato, MN 56001
507-388-2202

Elsie Elizabeth Brielmaier, age 89, of Mankato, died Thursday, March 6, 2014, at Pathstone Living in Mankato.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 1:00 p.m., Monday, March 10, 2014, at SS. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Mankato. Visitation will be one hour before the service at the church on Monday. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the School Sisters of Notre Dame or the donor's choice. Mankato Mortuary handled the arrangements.

Elsie was born on December 14, 1924, in St. Louis, MO. She was the daughter of Nicholas and Susan (Angeli) Wild. Elsie was a graduate of Roosevelt High School in St. Louis. She was a big-city girl who was united in marriage to Donald F. Brielmaier, a small-town boy from Mankato, on August 21, 1948. This cosmopolitan young woman with a taste for dancing, the opera, fine clothes, and Ted Drew's Frozen Custard, rode the train, travel trunk full of belongings in tow, from the bustle of one city on the Mississippi River to a wonderful little place at the bend of the Minnesota River. She did not like it. She nearly turned around and went back. Thankfully, her mother-in-law, Nellie, quickly became her best friend and she stayed. She spent her first months with Nellie learning to cook and home make. She and Don first moved into a house with a window box for a refrigerator, then into two houses they built, and finally into a townhome where they spent the last 20 of their 63 years together. Every place they lived was a home to all who entered because of Elsie's welcoming nature. She was a member of SS. Peter & Paul Catholic Church. Elsie enjoyed bowling, going to movies, dancing, traveling, and time spent with her family and countless friends, especially Bernie.

Elsie is survived by her three children, Bob Brielmaier of Santa Fe, NM, Ellen (John) Dickens of Newcastle, ME, and Steve Brielmaier of Mendota Heights; seven grandchildren, Katherine, Daniel, and Elizabeth Brielmaier, Matthew and Andrew Dickens, and Zoe and Lily Brielmaier; also nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Donald in 2012; sister, Helen and brother, Leonard.

The family would like to thank Kate, Dan, and Elizabeth's mother, Sheryl Redding, for her thoughtful help, care, and love for Elsie as she traveled down her last road.