Forest Hills golf lover aimed to excel in every endeavor

0 Comments | Tribune - Review / Pittsburgh Tribune - Review, Dec 26, 2009 | by Daveen Rae Kurutz

Whether he was playing golf or working hard, William Brandenstein had a way of making the people around him feel at ease.

"He was my dad and he was my hero," said his daughter, Mary Curran of Penn Township. "If you knew him, you loved him. If you didn't know him, you loved him in the next 20 minutes after talking with him."

William A. "Peewee" Brandenstein Sr. of Forest Hills died Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009. He was 85.

From a young age, Mr. Brandenstein was determined to support his family after his father left. When he was in the ninth grade, he dropped out of school to become a baker and excelled at cake decorating. For years, the World War II veteran and his wife, Helen, would make intricate wedding and bridal shower cakes, his daughter said.

When it came to his cakes, or anything else in life, he was a perfectionist, said his eldest son, Bill Brandenstein Jr. of Penn Hills.

"He was just phenomenal in everything he did," his son said. "Everything he did, he mastered."

After the bakery he worked for closed, Mr. Brandenstein began working as a night watchman at E.L. Weigand, an electrical company later bought out by Emerson Electric Co.

While working nights, he began golfing every day with his eldest son -- and was quite good at it. He had 13 certified hole in ones and countless "unofficial" ones. Curran said Mr. Brandenstein and her brother would rifle through the Entertainment coupon book and take every buy-one, get-one-free coupon for golfing.

"He was very competitive," Bill Brandenstein Jr. said. "Golf was a game of chess to him."

While in his 50s, Mr. Brandenstein changed jobs and tested to become a guard at the state prison in Woods Run. His daughter was impressed by the physical and mental agility that got him the job while competing with younger men.

"There was nothing my dad couldn't do," Curran said. "He was quite a man."

Despite his busy schedule, Mr. Brandenstein always made time for his friends and family. After working a night shift, he would still coach or attend his daughter's softball games. On weekends, he and his wife would invite neighbors and friends to their home for dinner and relaxation.

"Everybody was always welcome into our home," Curran said. "There probably was not a kid or a neighbor who hadn't had a meal in our home. He just loved life and our family."

In addition to his wife Helen, son Bill Jr., and daughter Mary, Mr. Brandenstein is survived by his sons, Robert Brandenstein of New Kensington, James Brandenstein of McMurray and George Brandenstein of Penn Hills; 12 grandchildren; and a sister, Betty "Bootsie" Bigenho of Penn Hills.

He was preceded in death by his brother, James Brandenstein, and sister, Shirley Rockar.

Visitation is scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Patrick T. Lanigan Funeral Home, 700 Linden Ave., East Pittsburgh.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Maurice Church, 2001 Ardmore Blvd., Forest Hills.

Interment will follow in Restland Cemetery in Monroeville.