Anna Lee Brendza

Anna Lee Brendza of New Philadelphia died Monday, July 25, 2016, in Park Village Assisted Living at Dover of lung cancer. She was known as "The Hot Line Lady" because of her consumer column that appeared weekly in The Times-Reporter newspaper for more than 40 years. She helped many people solve their consumer affairs problems. She worked for the newspaper since 1969, beginning with a family humor column called "The Walrus Said..." and started "Hot Line" in 1970.

She was a popular speaker on "Scams, Schemes and Swindles" about consumer issues and a motivational talk, "How to Be Joyful When If You Had Any Sense, You'd Be Miserable." She was a regular guest on WBTC-AM's former live talk show, "Dial and Speak."

She was born in Athens, Ohio on April 26, 1928, the only child of John C. "Jack" and Annetta A. Brown. In 1945 she graduated from West High School in Columbus and briefly attended Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana.

On June 27, 1951, she married Capt. Gerard H. Martin, a career Army officer. In 1953, pregnant with her first child, she boarded a ship and spent 22 days at sea to join her husband stationed in Trieste, Italy where their heir daughter Anne Margaret was born. On Aug. 11, 1955, Captain Martin was killed in a joint Army-Air Force exercise over Stuttgart, Germany. Two airplanes collided in mid-air, taking the lives of 67 men. On December 26, 1959, she married M/Sgt. Edward J. Brendza, and continued her travels as a military wife, spending several years in Europe. In 1962, John Joseph Brendza and 1963 Thomas Paul Brendza arrived to complete the family. In 1969, M/Sgt. Brendza was assigned to Dover as adviser to the former Army Reserve unit, which prompted the move to New Philadelphia. Edward Brendza died September 5, 1986 of brain cancer.

Anna Lee learned to read at a very young age and wrote poetry and stories. She received her first paycheck for her writing at age 7. She worked for the Columbus Dispatch, Shreveport Times and Dayton Daily News before coming to The Times-Reporter. As a freelance writer, her work was bought and published by Child Life, Polly Pigtails, Seventeen, Life, Woman's Day, Catholic Digest, National Catholic Reporter, Catholic Times, Army Times, Stars and Stripes, and a number of other publications.

In the 1960s and 1970s, she became a professional contester. She won more than 380 prizes, ranging from $3, 000 for naming a GE radio to television sets, bicycles, cash prizes, encyclopedias, furniture and a live cow (after awarding it, the dairy bought it back from her for $500). She was a member of the National Contesters' Association and was a speaker at several conventions.

Locally, in addition to her newspaper columns, she wrote "The History of the Community Improvement Corporation" for the CIC and "Tuscarawas Valley A Land for All Seasons, for All Reasons" for the Chamber of Commerce. Her last book was "Max and Jane Krantz: A Love Story," a biography.

She won many awards; such as: Tuscarawas County Woman of the Year, 2010; Individual of the Year 1988 from Canton Region Better Business Bureau; and Ohio Media Award for Best Writing About Cancer, 1980, from the American Cancer Society for her story in The Times-Reporter about her own breast cancer.

She was a member of Sacred Heart Church, St. Joseph-Sacred Heart Senior Citizens, Altar Society, Loyal Christian Benefit Association, Faces of Hope cancer support/survivors group, Tuscarawas County Democratic Women and National AARP. She formerly volunteered for the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery program, giving help and hope to breast cancer patients and formerly served on the boards of directors of the Muskingum Lakes Chapter American Red Cross, Tuscarawas County Committee on Aging (Senior Center), TRIAD (a coalition to prevent seniors from becoming crime victims), Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School and New Philadelphia chapter of AARP. In the 1970s she was a member of Women Against Rape and testified before the Ohio State Legislature favoring a bill to help rape victims and punish perpetrators (the bill became law).

Surviving are her three children and five grandchildren: Anne Martin Peters and husband Alan of Middlefield, their daughter Chelsea Stardust Peters of Los Angeles, California; John "Jack" Brendza, and wife Sheila and their children Megan and Matthew of Maple Grove, Minnesota; and Thomas "Tom" Brendza and wife Dr. Dana Brendza and their children Joseph and John of Twinsburg.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, July 30, at 10:30 AM, in Sacred Heart Church, with Fr. Jeff Coning officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery at New Philadelphia. Following the committal, there will be a lunch in Sacred Heart's St. Ambrose Hall. Calling hours are Friday, July 29, 5 8 PM in the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home & Crematory at Dover. To sign an online guestbook and share a fond memory of Anna Lee, please visit the obituaries link on the funeral home's website.

The family suggests that, instead of flowers, contributions be made to Sacred Heart Church Altar Society, 139 Third St. N.E., or Community Hospice, 716 Commercial Ave. S.W., both addresses at New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663.

"This is the end," cried the caterpillar. "No, it's the beginning!" said the butterfly.