Bert J. Bruns (1888-1970), the first one of the Bruns family to be born in America, was truly a "Giant in the Earth," as Ole Rolvaag would have labeled a lover of the land and a man of stamina, compassion and character.
Because of his father's early injury in the Franco-Prussian War, Bert assumed responsibility early. Even as a boy of nine, he helped with the fieldwork by guiding the horses and hand plow. By his mid-teens, his father, then in his 60's and ailing, Bert took over all of the farm work, with the help of a younger brother, Tony. Keenly intent on developing his physical prowess, he challenged himself to do the heaviest lifting, the fastest running, and the quickest shocking and loading of grain. This paid off because his physical strength was so great that it is reported at one time he bodily lifted a car, with a passenger in it, from the muddy rut in the road. It paid off, too, in his wrestling skill, for he was named champion wrestler of the tri-states: North and South Dakota and Montana, in the early '10's.
Because of his ready wit and likeable personality, he easily took over community leadership. He was clerk and president of the Grand Prairie Township and school boards, and assessor in Grand Prairie for forty years.
At the Salem church, he was involved in all phases of the service, first as youth leader, and then on the Administrative Board and as a trustee and a teacher of the Adult Bible Class, as well as on a host of committees.
He was president of the Crop and Livestock Improvement Association for a term and a director and officer of the North Dakota Winter Show. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Sheyenne Manor and Nursing Home; and secretary-treasurer of the Hillside Cemetery Association.
Throughout his life he spearheaded promotional efforts, like the Liberty Bond drives, extended rural telephone service, and school improvements. Among his last efforts were trips throughout the State to speak to Chambers of Commerce and interested individuals in behalf of donations for an enlarged Winter Show building.
An ethical and deeply religious man, he was conscious, always, of the mystery of being which transcends all things, and he thought of himself as a steward of the land, accountable to God for his farming practices. He loved God's gift of these unenclosed, pathless spaces, and felt comfortable in the nobility and solitude of the prairies. Whatever dramas were enacted upon this stage, behind this orchestra of wind and storm, called forth in those who played their part only constancy and honour. Here one could grow into heroic mould.
Bert married Martha Bublitz, sister of the Rev. Charles Bublitz, who was pastor of the Salem German Methodist Church from 1906-1925. After her death he married Ilo Zeidler, an English-Journalism teacher on the Mesabi Iron Range.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 38