Mrs. Frances “Polly” Dutsch Brandt passed away July 24, 2017, at her residence in Oxford.

Born in Waldheim, Louisiana, on September 3, 1932, she was the youngest and last surviving of the 10 children of Richard Herman Dutsch and Marie Schech Dutsch.  She started school in Covington, Louisiana, at the age of five at the Benedictine convent where her maternal aunts were nuns. She later moved with her parents to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she attended St. Joseph’s Academy, and later graduated from Central High School, as valedictorian.  She then graduated with a B.S. from LSU in 1952, majoring in math.

Her first job after graduation from LSU was teaching high school in Hackberry, Louisiana, which she began shortly before her 20th birthday. She married George Albert Brandt, Jr., in May 1955, and they were married for 55 years, until his death in 2010.  They had four children, all of whom survive her: Katherine “Kate” (Leeds) Barroll of Lexington, South Carolina; Mary (Pat) Jensen of Oxford; Virginia Brandt of St. Francisville, Louisiana; and Mark Brandt of Pontotoc.  She is also survived by four grandchildren: Joseph Barroll, Marie Rider, Eric Rider, and Agnes Barroll; her brother-in-law, Lester Jensen; and several nieces and nephews.

Except for a short stint as postmaster of Baker, Louisiana, in the early 1960’s, she was a full-time homemaker and mother while her children were young. She was a regular patron of the public library, and read several books a week.  After her children were grown, she shared George’s interest in camellias. They participated in camellia shows and after her retirement, she became a novice Camellia judge.

After her oldest child was in college, she re-enrolled in LSU, earned a Masters of Accounting, and became a CPA. After living in Baker for 50 years, in 2006, she and George moved to the Oxford area to be near their daughter, Mary and son, Mark where they lived the final years of their lives. She lived the last four years of her life under Mary and Pat’s devoted care.

Mrs. Brandt was predeceased by her sisters, Audrey Dutsch, Anne Jensen, Patricia Bliss and Margaret Reinken; and by her brothers, Roger Dutsch, Joseph Dutsch, Albert Dutsch, Victor Dutsch, and Paul Dutsch.

The family request memorial donations to Bodock Grove; North Mississippi Regional Center; 967 Regional Center Drive; Oxford, MS 38655 in lieu of flowers.

Online condolences may be left on the Tribute Wall at www.colemanfuneralhome.com.