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Thursday, December 29, 1977 - Troy, Ohio 45373 - Vol. 69, No. 104

Brukner sought perfection in everything he touched

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of two parts of a story on Clayton J. Brukner, Troy entrepreneur and philanthropist who died Monday. Brukner was, along with his partner, Elwood J. "Sam" Junkin, one of the pioneer engineers and manufacturers of aircraft in United States.

Last of Two Parts

By HARRIET HOWARD HEITHAUS
Associate Editor

What got Waco out of the aircraft business seems as much a mystery as what brought Clayton J. Brukner with partner Elmwood [[margin note]] Elwood [[/margin note]] "Sam" Junkin and financial backer [[margin note]] founder of WACO [[/margin note]] Buck Weaver, to Troy. 

But the demand that had swelled production to require 2,100 workers at the peak of World War II withered when the armed forces' need for gliders disappeared with the war. The company which had spent its most intense effort producing the the CG4-A glider was suddenly without its mainstay of business. 

And its airplanes never sold again like they had in pre-war years. Waco turned to the production of airplane parts, smaller machinery and ground transportation -- such as bread trucks -- according to an employee who worked there during the later years. 

Through it, Brukner was apparently becoming aware of a fascination with more than mechanical things. He was appointed to the Stouder Memorial Hospital Board in 1931, and served as its president from 1945-50. It was hardly a titular honor -- the hospital added the east wing, its Hayner wing on the west side, a new dining room, kitchen, laundry, and operating room. 

And the biggest addition was to come largely at Brukner's own expense: the $1 million Brukner wing that opened in 1972 housing a new lab, emergency room, and patients' rooms, was more than half paid for by Brukner himself.

Brukner's interest in wildlife culminated in his purchase of the George McConnell farm on Horseshoe Ben Road. It was a scenic blend, as Brukner was to describe it, of wooded hills and valleys, a great variety of plant life, streams and "hillside perpetually flowing springs and water seeps which had preserved many a drought-sensitive flower."

"During the past 40 years," his memorandum on the background of Brukner Nature Center recalls, "I have generated a number of plans for the semi-public utilization of the nature-rich terrain, all of which lacked any practical hope of preserving the plant and animal life against the uprooting and killing influence of many persons who feel free to trespass 'out-in-the-country.'"

He was sensitive about allowing an uneducated public access to precious wildlife, and treasured the seclusion the sanctuary could afford, as reporters from the Troy Daily News learned more than once when they attempted to write about the proposed nature center. 

Brukner guarded his own privacy as well. His equipment-laden home on Swailes Road, complete with water mill and submarine among the natural splendors, had a siren warning system that kept away curious neighborhood children. Those who trespassed and ran into the owner doubtlessly pronounced Brukner a crochety old man.

Center Director Robert Heidelberg and his wife Joann, curator, recalled that Brukner enjoyed designing the center even more than executing it. But he was often in the seat of the bulldozer or a tractor to clear trails.  

"He liked the out-of-doors. He enjoyed doing things. Many times, in fact, I thought he was pushing too much, physically, for his age" recalled James J. Mischler a friend who worked with Brukner on a number of community projects through the years. 

The Brukner Nature Center became an abiding dream in the sixties, when Waco, by that time manufacturing airplane parts only, was sold to Allied-Aero Industries, Inc., of Syracuse, N.Y. Brukner "retired," as he called it, to devote more time to planning and furnishing the center. 

The few social occasions Brukner would frequent, friends recall, were his weekly luncheons with the Troy Rotary Club, where he was the frequent proponent of new campaigns and firm opponent of speakers with whom he disagreed. 

Brunker was, according to them, steadfast firm in those topics on which he knew, and made it a point to be well-educated before he spoke.

It carried through into other conversation, according to Trojan J. Don Mason, who came to know Brukner while he was arranging a number of public presentation for the pilot, who was to receive the Silver Wings "man of the year" award in 1974.

(Brukner was also one of the few to receive both the Jaycees Community Service Award, 1971, and the Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Citizen Award, 1969.)

"He could talk about at great length about topics of discussion, he was so well versed," recalled Mason. 

Brukner had a bent for humor that showed up in what Troy Mayor Frank Prouty remembered as his "puckish" wit -- he was the Rotary's unsurpassed limerick champion, and and took prizes from the club's international magazine. 

But Brukner was apparently happier doing than ever talking at all. Besides his contribution of $37,000 for the city park behind the Troy-Miami County Public Library and $10,000 for Troy's new ambulance telemetry (heart-monitoring) equipment, Brukner was on the giving end of gifts to the "Rec" and other school programs. 

"He did so many things people never knew about," said Mischler, one of many to make that comment.

And he was busy up to the end, when he died in Kettering Medical Center Dec. 26. Recalled a friend who visited Brukner, "He had blueprints all over his room, hoping to get a patent for one more idea."

It was the best way to go for Clayton Brukner -- busy. 

[[margin note]] MEDINA OHIO 1921 - SOLOED BY GEO. E. "BUCK" WEAVER
FOUNDER OF WEAVER AIRCRAFT CO WACO[[/margin note]]

[[image 1]] Brukner (inset) and the CG-4A during publicity run in front of Waco plant

[[image 2]] Brukner (far right), employees pose after war bond sale during WW II

Photos courtesy of Mrs. Chester D. Oldham

Transcription Notes:
[[image 1: inset portrait of man with glasses; main image of an airplane with eleven men walking beneath its wings]] [[image 2: two men wearing suits hold either side of a large banner with a dark background and the white silhouette of a soldier ringed by thirteen stars; 23 men stand behind the banner and one man wearing a military uniform stands at the left side of the group]]