Brent, Letitia, and Emily Rutan
I (Brent) was born in Columbus, Indiana, which was my Dad’s hometown. That is also where he met my Mom, Susan Kleymeyer Rutan. When I was a baby, I had severe allergies that required me to wear a mask outdoors. When we visited my Aunt Martha Kleymeyer in Houston, we discovered that I did not have to wear the mask in the Texas air. That is when my family made the decision to leave Indiana and move to Austin, Texas. So Martha had significant influence on how I was raised.
I grew up outside of Austin on Lake Travis in a home that my parents sold to Willie Nelson when I was attending the University of Texas. I finished my college at a small school, where I went to play basketball. That is where I met my wife Letitia. We were married in 1987, after graduating from Schreiner University (just celebrated our 31st anniversary).
Letitia comes from a family in San Antonio that traces their roots to Mannheim on the Rhine, Germany (about 4 1/2 hours from Loehne). We lived in San Antonio for 20 years before moving to Dallas 10 years ago with my job (I am a CPA and work for AT&T in Corporate Finance). We have one daughter, Emily, who is 21 and a Senior Communications Major at Texas Christian University. Letitia and I were married in the Presbyterian Church that she grew up in. We still attend a Presbyterian Church in the small town outside of Dallas that we live in (Waxahachie). I am an Elder in the Church and Letitia is heavily involved in the Youth program. One of the reasons we moved to the small town of Waxahachie was the presence of the Presbyterian Children’s
Home. We have both been involved with that organization. Our other favorite activity is cooking. I love to BBQ and have participated in competitions.