On the recordDecember 8, 2022
since 1963, the State Journal-Register, the oldest newspaper in Illinois, has awarded its First Citizen Award to residents of Springfield who have selflessly given their time and resources to help and serve others. This year, the State Journal- Register has selected a central Illinois legend to receive its 2022 First Citizen Award: businesswoman and philanthropist, Evelyn Brandt Thomas. If you ask Evelyn Brandt Thomas how she is doing, she often replies, ``Better than I deserve.'' She is a true pioneer with deep roots in central Illinois. Evelyn was born in 1923 on a farm in Salisbury Township, just outside of Pleasant Plains. Her father, Albert Brandt, raised horses for the first 12 years of her life. And as life on a farm goes, Evelyn had to do it all. She would handle tractors, gather eggs, and milk the cows, all without the luxuries of electricity or indoor plumbing. She was ahead of her time. Evelyn graduated from Springfield High School at just 16 years old and went on to receive a degree in accounting from Illinois Business College, an impressive feat at a time when women had few higher education opportunities and even fewer prospects in the fields of business and accounting. After several years of working in advertising, in the early 1950s, Evelyn and her younger brother, Glen--``GB'' for short--founded Brandt Fertilizer, a company that sold liquid fertilizer to central Illinois farms.…
