David E. Brouhard

David Brouhard was born on November 16, 1938, to David Raymond Brouhard and Lucy Ann (Holestine) Brouhard. He was the oldest of three children and the last to leave this world. He was preceded in death by his sister, Mary Ann (Brouhard) Evans, and his brother, Jerry D. Brouhard.

David attended grade school and high school in Independence, KS. Followed by two years at Independence Community College.

In 1965, Dave married Sherree (Heikes) Brouhard and moved to Kansas City. For several years, he performed quality control testing for engineering and construction companies in Kansas City.

Sometime in the mid-1970s, he became interested in antiques and truly found his vocation. He was the manager for Ferrell’s Auction Company in Kansas City until it closed. In later years, he opened Nighthawke Antiques, a retail antique store, located in Downtown Kansas City at 17th and McGee. He closed the store when he retired, but always continued to collect pieces that he loved. He has managed to put together a very large collection of heavily carved European furniture that features carved cherubs and demons. I always thought he must buy it by the pound. If it didn’t weigh a ton, he didn’t want it. He was also a big collector of marble lamps and statues, and paintings.

When you saw him walking around the house looking in every room with a tape measure in his hand looking for an area that was not already covered with a piece of furniture or a wall that did not have a painting on it, you knew that there was a truck that was headed to the house and you knew absolutely nothing about what was coming.

He also collected cookbooks, probably around 6000 of them, in boxes in the garage. He only bought them if they had pictures of the food. He actually read them and recorded the name of the book and the page number on which his selection appeared. I think that he hoped that someday I might learn to cook.

For a while, it was die-cast model cars. Every size new in boxes now stacked in closets. Whatever he collected, he did it with vengeance. For years, we called him a collector; now we wonder if he was not part hoarder.

And there were all the cars that he collected over the years. I am sure his favorite was a 1981 Lamborghini Countach that he kept for years and only let it go just a few years ago.

Very few were fortunate enough to see his collections. He took a lot of time explaining what pieces were and truly enjoyed showing them to the ones who did see them. Recently, we had a young lady visit, and when she walked through the front door, she asked to be excused while she picked her jaw up from the floor.

His knowledge will never be replaced. He loved all of his treasures, and my son David and I loved him for it.

We have a big hole in our hearts that will never be filled.

Please, no flowers. Help fight these cancers that kill by donating to cancer research or donating to your local no-kill animal shelters.