John W. Bremer is
director of music in the Southwestern State Normal School,
Weatherford, Oklahoma. To one who is in
any way conversant with the training and experience of Professor
Bremer in his profession,
the above statement
tells much of the completeness and efficiency of the music department
of that institution, for Professor Bremer came to his duties here
splendidly equipped, both in talent and in training, for the duties
of his office. Professor Bremer was born in Essen, Germany, in the
Rhifle Province, on November 25, 1874, and he is the son of William
and Gertrude (Ferlmann) Bremer, both German born. The father was a
native of the Rhine Province, born there in 1837, and he died in
Essen, Germany, in 1896. The mother was born in Westphalia, Germany,
in 1841, and her death occurred at the family home in Essen in 1892.
William Bremer was for years the superintendent of a force of several
hundred men in one of the large smelting mills in his province, and
was a man of prominence in his field of activities. He was liberal in
politics, and he served in the wars of 1864, 1866 and in the War of
1870-71, receiving the Iron Cross in recognition of bravery in action
during the latter war. He was the father of two children, Joseph H.,
who died in 1901, in LaGrange, Indiana, at the age of thirty-three
years, and who had come to America in 1891; and John W. of this
review.
John W. Bremer
received excellent educational advantages in Germany. When he had
completed a course at the Pedagogical Seminary, Odenkirchen, he
entered the Music Conservatory of Cologne and studied there until
1895. He had decided ere that time that his profession should be
music, and after his graduation from Cologne he engaged in private
work in his profession at Duisburg, Germany, until l897. In that
year he came to LaGrange, Indiana, to which place his brother had
preceded him, and he was a teacher of music there for six years,
meeting with an appreciable degree of success in the work. In 1903
Professor Bremer went to Goshen, Indiana, continuing there in his
chosen work until February, 1908, when he was called to Weatherford
to fill his present position as director of music of the Southwestern
State Normal School.
Professor Bremer is
a democrat. His fraternal affiliations are confined to Goshen Lodge
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was married in Elkhart, Indiana,
in 1905, to Miss Alma Oberholtzer, daughter of Jacob Oberholtzer, now
deceased. Three children have been born to them, John Victor, born
July 31, 1906; Joseph Jacob, born February 14, 1909, and Gertrude
Clara, born March 8, 1911.