Talk Back! 
Most Read stories this week
Most Emailed stories this week
RSSTom Brinkoetter, founder of prominent local real estate company, dies at 80
DECATUR - Tom Brinkoetter was a worker.
Jackie Brinkoetter, his wife, gave him an ultimatum in the 1950s, which started him on a highly successful career selling real estate.
Tom Brinkoetter, 80, suffered with diabetes for 48 years. He died Tuesday, July 1, leaving a community legacy in his chosen profession - Brinkoetter and Associates Realtors.
"He was working at Staley's, coming home smelling very bad," Jackie Brinkoetter recalled. "He had been selling real estate part time. He was thinking about going into the real estate business full time. He couldn't decide. I told him: If you're going to do it, let's do it, let's get it done.
"He did. He worked for John Majors for a while, then opened his own office in a custard stand shack in front of Chap's Park on North Main Street. No heat. No restroom. I typed with my gloves on. We'd go to the restroom in Shopper's World in Brett;wood Village. When clients showed up, Tom took them to a restaurant to talk business.
"From Chap's, Tom moved to an office on Eldorado Street. Tom set out to change the image of Realtors, who often were considered as shysters in those days," Jackie Brinkoetter said. "I think he had a lot to do in changing the image of the Realtor in Decatur."
Visitation for Tom Brinkoetter will be 4 to 8 p.m. today in Brintlinger and Earl Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. Monday in St. James Catholic Church with burial in Point Pleasant Cemetery, Long Creek.
In the beginning, Tom Brinkoetter had the late Florence White for a teacher in a one-room school. He was a farm boy who walked to Decatur to sell vegetables. He was also a Western Union messenger, delivering telegrams.
He played softball seven days a week, particularly on the Jasper Street playground, a center fielder who could "run like a rabbit," as a relative said.
Pushed by a strong work ethic, he ultimately had four real estate offices in Decatur as many as 38 employees.
"He trained a lot of people," Jackie Brinkoetter said. "He never told his salesmen to do anything he wouldn't do."
Tom Brinkoetter was especially interested in the American Diabetes Association Kiss a Pig fundraising contest. He won in 1991 when the contest was getting started, collecting more than $3,500 to gain the honor of kissing a Vietamese miniature potbellied pig in a ceremony in Central Park. Tom also was a 2008 contestant.
In 1973, he donated five acres that eventually became Baker Woods Park.
Above all, though, Tom Brinkoetter was a worker.
Bob Fallstrom can be reached at bfallstrom@herald-review.com or 421-7981.
Previous Page 
Subscribe 
Email Alerts 
Print this story 
Email this story
del.icio.us
digg
newsvine
facebook
Search By Issue
Search By Keyword
