Brandt changes from first female plumber to stocker
By CATHY DAVIS
Reporter / Photographer
Cheryl Brandt has found satisfaction as stocker/carry-out person at Vogt's IGA. But she started out her working career as a plumber.
Born in Goessel, she is the youngest of seven children born to Jim and Eulalia Flaming. The family lived in Hillsboro, and Cheryl attended schools in the USD #410 school district.
In 1981, she graduated from Hillsboro High School and went right to work in her father's business as an apprentice plumber.
"I learned the trade from my dad," Cheryl said.
During the first four years of working with her father, Cheryl said she started off just watching and learning from her dad as she accompanied him on various service calls.
"He would show me how to 'rough-in,'" she said.
Cheryl explained that "rough-in" is where the plumbing is put in the walls before the sheet rock is put in place when building a new home.
"I loved setting new fixtures in a new home," she said.
Later on her duties included "rodding" drain lines, which is running a snake tool through the lines. She also helped with the sewer jobs, laying new pipes, or whatever else needed doing.
When her father was in the heating business, she helped with cleaning the furnaces and installing new duct work for the furnaces.
"I even learned to do sheet metal work," she said.
Cheryl decided to go a trade school that was offered by the Plumbers Association. The ten-month long evening classes were taught by Wichita plumbing inspectors.
In 1985, she took a test to receive her journeyman's license in Wichita.
She showed her test results and license to Hillsboro city officials and was then given a license to work in Hillsboro.
"I think I was the first and only licensed female plumber in the Hillsboro area," she said.
Cheryl worked for her dad for a few more years, but when he was looking to slow down or to retire, she began looking for work elsewhere.
On May 9, 1987, she married Kevin Brandt in Hillsboro.
"We met at the coffee shop that used to be by Dean's Schroeder's car dealership," Cheryl said.
"I used to come in there for coffee with my dad, and my dad would say that Kevin was looking at me," she said. "Then one day Kevin asked me to go out, and that's how our story began."
In the mid-1990s, Cheryl began working for Total Home Repair. Her duties included mostly service calls and repairs. She also helped at times with the remodeling jobs. She worked there for two and half years.
After a brief hiatus for a year, she went to work for a short stint with Jim Davis from Marion. She had heard he was looking for a plumber on an as-needed basis during the summer months in 1997.
On Sept. 29, 1997, she began working at Vogt's IGA as a stocker, carry-out person, and part-time clerk. This is her fifth year working at the grocery store.
"I love the job," Cheryl said. "I love meeting people and visiting with them."
Cheryl's duties include stocking the shelves, carrying out groceries for the customers, operating the check-out register when needed, putting out the new ad items for display each Wednesday, and making sure the sale item shelves are full.
"I am pretty sure I am the first female carry-out person at the store, too," Cheryl said.
Cheryl said she has a "number one" hobby — camping. Their family's favorite place to camp is Roaring River State Park in Missouri.
She also enjoys fishing, riding motorcycles, doing word finds, and reading Christian books, especially the Janette Oake series.
The couple are members of Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church. They have two children, daughter Ashley, who is 10 and a fourth grader at Hillsboro Elementary School, and son Corey, who is two and a half.
