Posted: 3/2/05
Final Draft - by Cliff Buchan
When a car needed fixing, Del was always there
When it comes to fixing cars, everyone needs a guy at some point. Some of us need that guy more than others. Drop my name in the latter category. When it comes to fixing cars, Iíve always needed that guy.
In the 30 years that Iíve called Forest Lake home, Del Branum was always my guy. If something went wrong with my vehicle, it was Del who usually got the call. He may not have been the best auto technician in town but he was always willing to help.
Forest Lake lost one of its key personalities last week with the death of Del Branum. He was just 63 and there were many more cars to work on in his future before cancer got the best of him.
Del was one of the first guys I met in Forest Lake. It may have been on a fire scene where he was helping fight a blaze for the Forest Lake Fire Department, or it could have been at Delís Mobil which he ran on the corner of S. Lake St. and Broadway Ave. It also might have been at the Village Inn, the old coffee spot that stood where Park Place is today.
He was an easy guy to get to know and I always counted him as a friend. In many respects he was like a big brother.
Del was a businessman but he would frequently put business aside if someone needed help. He may have even sacrificed of the fruits of his labor to go out of his way to help people.
I had been in Forest Lake just a half year when the car I was driving needed repairs. A valve job was a major undertaking for someone fresh out of college with a small paycheck and school loans to pay.
Del diagnosed the problem that winter and as I recall there was no bill for the time that he spent in the shop. Del didnít do major engine repair of that kind but I know that he put in a good word for me with Harold Bothman, another fireman and a capable auto repair guy. Harold didnít know me from Adam but he took the job and gave me the time I needed to pay for the work.
Iím sure it was Delís influence that saved me the misery of trying to find the cash to pay for the repairs up front.
I can only guess how many others Del helped over the 40 plus years that he worked in the auto repair business.
He also ran a towing company for a number of years. I remember one late night call from a home in Scandia asking my good friend if his truck was available to pull someone from a snow-filled ditch. It was less than an hour later when the tow truck arrived.
Del never pried as to why that car of mine ended up in the ditch on a winterís night, but I think he always knew. That infectious smile and the twinkle in his eyes were tip-offs that I wasnít fooling anyone.
It is such little things that will be missing from this communityís fabric with Delís passing. There may never be a monument honoring his work and contributions, but we need to take stock in how important this man was in his own ways.
He was a central figure in the business community during a time when small, independent businesses were the backbone of this town. It was that way through all of the 1970s and most of the 1980s. He was a hometown guy who never wanted to be anywhere else.
Del felt the pain of the changing business climate here when he lost the lease of the former Mobil Station property. He was disappointed but never let any hard bitterness show. He simply moved on, setting up a small repair shop on the northwest side of town.
He made a go there for more than 20 years, providing service to many of us longtime customers and being discovered by some of the many newcomers who also found they needed a repair guy.
Over the years Del always found time to support his community as a business owner, volunteer and civic servant. His work in the Jaycees, with the town team baseball Lakers, as a fireman and fire chief, as a family man, and as a devout Christian and churchgoer are all qualities worthy of recognition.
As I pressed my foot on the brake pedal the other day I was reminded of the brake job that my Ford wagon would need. It hit me then that I had lost my guy.
And more importantly, I had lost a friend.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605