Obituary: Thomas B. Brennan (Dec. 6, 1929 – July 4, 2015)


Thomas Benoit Brennan – lifelong resident and champion of the Harbor, beloved husband, father, brother and employer – died July 4. He passed comfortably surrounded by his wife Gretchen and close family. He was 85.

Tom was the oldest son of Thomas “Pop” Brennan, an Irish immigrant who came to the Harbor in 1924 to found Brennan’s Cash Bazaar. He expanded the business in 1941, building a general merchandise store – Brennan’s – at 112 E. Wishkah. Tom and his brother James Patrick “J.P.” Brennan joined their father running Brennan’s, which the brothers operated until 1999, retiring on the store’s 75th anniversary.

Tom was a proud graduate of St. Mary’s Parochial School, Weatherwax High School and the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with honors in 1951. He made many trips to his alma mater for intellectual, spiritual and athletic endeavors and events, including a renewal of marriage vows on their 55th anniversary. A highlight of a final campus visit was a long conversation with former university president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, in his residence atop the Notre Dame Library. He was among Tom’s many friends in the family of Notre Dame alums.

Upon graduation from Notre Dame, Tom immediately joined the U.S. Air Force during the Korean conflict, first serving as an airborne weatherman on a Boeing B-29 in the Pacific. He then was commissioned as an air force intelligence officer, retiring from the reserve as a Captain. Immediately following his service to his country, Tom traveled extensively in Europe for a year, often with an Irish cousin who also accompanied him on a weeks-long tour of their family’s ancestral land. His father had emigrated from County Monaghan, and all his life Tom nurtured close ties with his surviving relatives in the Republic of Ireland. The reach of those ties became evident in 2013, when more than 90 family members hosted a family reunion honoring Tom, and welcoming his five sons to the town where their grandfather was born.

Additionally, Tom felt a compelling spiritual connection to the village of Assisi in Italy, the home of St. Francis. He made several pilgrimages to Assisi including a trip with his wife recognizing their 50th wedding anniversary.

Following university and his military service, Tom returned to Aberdeen to join his father at Brennan’s. For 45 years he made lasting friendships, many of them among the scores of employees who counted Tom and J.P. among the best of bosses. He also was a lifetime parishioner of St. Mary’s Church, serving on the parish council and several church and school committees. Among other community activities, Tom was a founding member of the Grays Harbor Community Foundation and a two-term board member at the Aberdeen Timberland Public Library. He was also a lifetime member of several organizations including the Notre Dame Alumni Association, the Aberdeen Elks and the Washington Athletic Club.

In 1960, Tom married Gretchen Lawwill of Aberdeen. She survives in their long-time Aberdeen home where they raised five surviving sons: Michael and his wife Natalee, Seattle; Sean and his wife Gretchen, Seattle; Stephen and his wife Bonnie, Portland; Tim, New York City; and Tom and his wife Carolyn, Edmonds. Tom is also survived by 9 grandchildren: Sean’s sons Conor and James; Stephen’s son Jesse and daughters Loni, Shannon and Erin; and Tom’s daughter Darcy and his sons Ciaran and Tommy. Tom is also survived by his brother James Patrick Brennan, Seattle; his nieces, Brigid Brennan of Seattle and Leonilla Ayers, Aleica Milchen and Antoinette Bair of San Diego; and his nephews Patrick Brennan, Seattle, and Peter Brennan, Boise.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Tom and Leonilla, his sisters, Helen Marie Ayers and Alice Jane Bair, and his nephew James Thomas Ayers.

Funeral Mass celebrating Tom’s life will be at St. Mary Church Monday, July 13, 11:30 a.m., followed by a reception at the adjacent parish hall. A vigil service with rosary will be held 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Mary.

In lieu of flowers, the Brennan family requests that gifts contributed in Tom’s memory be sent to the St. Mary “Feed the Hungry” program or to St. Mary School.

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