John George Brand, son of John F. and Mary (Rewerts) Brand was born in New Ulm, MN on February 22, 1929. He was baptized as an infant in the Germantown Evangelical Church and later confirmed in the Methodist Church in Jeffers, MN. He attended country school in District #35 north of Jeffers, until the 6th grade when he entered the public school in Jeffers. In 1946, he transferred to the University of Minnesota School of Agriculture at the St. Paul Campus, graduating in 1948.The death of his mother occurred at the age of 5 years and he made his home with his sister, Myrtle Vern Immer family, at the age of 11 years. John was a member of the Amboy Township 4H Club for many years and aided his brother-in-law in all the farming operations. He also assisted in showing purebred shorthorn cattle at numerous county fairs in Minnesota, South Dakota and the Minnesota State Fair. On January 20, 1951, John was united in marriage to Hilda Menken in the United Methodist Church in Jeffers. Following the marriage, they settled on a farm two miles southwest of Jeffers where they have lived all their married life. John was a faithful member of the Methodist Church, actively involved for many years on the church board and numerous committees. John became a member of Siloam Mason Lodge AFAM in Jeffers in 1950 at the age of 21 years and was elected worshipful Master in 1958. He then became a member of the Prudence Lodge at Windom. He has held a membership in many of the Masonic Bodies, many of them for over 50 years. He transferred his membership from Zuhrah Shrine in Minneapolis to El Riad Shrine in Sioux Falls in the year 2000. In January 1953, he became a member of the Order of Eastern in Jeffers, holding the office of Worthy Patron 25 times consecutively and honored for that record. He has held the office numerous times since joining Arbutus Chapter #169 at Windom and recently held his membership at Ronsford Chapter #43 at Worthington. He held offices in Minnesota, Grand Chapter, OES word in 1969 he was elected to the highest office in the Order of the Worthy Grand Patron. This position afforded him the pleasure of making many friendships throughout Minnesota and the surrounding states and Canada. John's life work was farming, feeding farrow to finish hogs, and feeding beef cattle, and raising corn and soybeans until the year 2000 when he retired. As a hobby, to just keep active, he fed meat goats for several years. He also served on the Amboy Township for 19 years retiring in 2012. He received the Hiram Award from the Grand Lodge of Minnesota for outstanding service to Free Masonry on June 3, 2016. Recently, John was hospitalized at the Westbrook Hospital in Westbrook, Minnesota and passed away there on Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 at the age of 91 years. John is survived by his wife of sixty-nine years, Hilda Brand of Westbrook; brothers and sisters-in-law; and many nieces and nephews. John was preceded in death by his parents and 6 brothers and sisters, Oren, Loyd, Edwin, Donald, Glen, Myrtle, Mrs. Vern Immer and Margaret, Mrs. Clement Batalden, and several nieces and nephews. His favorite Bible verse were Psalms 133:1 and Proverbs 3:1-13 and favorite song was Precious Memories.