Brennan, Patricia Noel (Funkey)

Patricia Noel (Funkey) Brennan, a native of Cedar Rapids, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. She spent 91 years living life to the fullest and giving those around her everything she had.

Mrs. Brennan was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Ernest and Pearl Shields. She was born into a family of daughters, Elizabeth, Lucille, Patricia and Dorothy. The family lived on Bever Avenue and was part of Immaculate Conception Parish. Mrs. Brennan attended Mount Mercy College after high school and then joined the work force. She lived in Cedar Rapids until she married Martin Brennan at Immaculate Conception in 1944. She had met Mr. Brennan when he attended Grinnell College in Iowa where he earned his commission as a 90-day wonder. The family moved to Romulus Army Air Field in Michigan during the war where there first son was born. After the war, the family returned to Philadelphia, Pa., Mr. Brennan's hometown, where their second son was born.

Recalled to active duty during the Korean conflict, Mr. Brennan chose to make the Air Force a career. When he was assigned temporary duty to far-flung places like Pakistan, Vietnam or Europe, Mrs. Brennan did as other military wives have always done. She wore all the household hats and kept the family running. Only for Mr. Brennan's extended tour in the Philippines in 1953 did Mrs. Brennan and her sons returned to Cedar Rapids, to live near her family.

After Mr. Brennan returned from the Philippines, he was assigned to Scott A.F.B., where their two youngest were born. When the children entered school, Mrs. Brennan returned to the workforce.

In 1961, the Air Force assigned Mr. Brennan to duty at Tachikawa A.F.B. in Japan. Mrs. Brennan and family followed in 1962, sailing from San Francisco on the SS President Roosevelt. As a woman whose simple Midwest upbringing may have otherwise precluded an international life, the family's embarkation was as much a metaphorical departure for her as it was a literal one.

Mrs. Brennan chose to experience Japan and all it offered. The family lived in Grant Heights, an American military housing complex on the outskirts of Tokyo. There Mrs. Brennan learned conversational Japanese. She took advantage of the “Shinkansen,” the bullet train installed in time for the 1964 Olympic Games, that took her well beyond Tokyo on weekends to Kyoto to buy Japanese antiquities that she bought by the suitcase. She traveled across Japan with her husband and family in tow. Shopping on the Ginza, participating in tea ceremonies, attending Shinto weddings of newfound friends, visiting to the United States Ambassador to Japan with her children and their friends at Christmas and more were all sandwiched around her duties serving with honor as a secretary to senior Army Intelligence Command staff during the Vietnam conflict.

The Brennans moved to Travis A.F.B. in 1966 and to Vallejo, Calif., in 1968 when Mr. Brennan retired from active duty as lieutenant colonel. Mrs. Brennan continued working, first for James L. Browning, the United States Attorney for northern California, and then for the Vallejo city attorney.

In 1975, she retired from active work, but her pace did not slow. She was active in the Catholic church as a member of St. Basil the Great in Vallejo and as a supporter of her husband's participation in the Deaconate Program for the Diocese of Sacramento. In 2000, Mrs. Brennan moved to Fremont to live near her daughter and Mr. Brennan who was a resident of the VA Health Care System in Menlo Park. In 2004, after a fall, Mrs. Brennan moved into a care facility where she lived until she passed away.

Mrs. Brennan, who was preceded in death by her husband, is survived by her children, David Brennan of Albany, N.Y., Terence Brennan of Santa Rosa, Calif., Gregory and Donna Brennan of Sonoma, Calif. and Kathryn and Art Geis of Fremont, Calif.; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

In Cedar Rapids, Mrs. Brennan is survived by her sister, Dorothy (Dode) Lyman; her nephew, Steve Sovern and his wife, Bonnie; as well as her grandniece, Keri Sovern.

A Mass celebrating Patricia Brennan's life will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 1, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 1791 Marshall Rd., Vacaville, CA. At 11:30 a.m. following the Mass, Mr. and Mrs. Brennan will be interred with military honors at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd., Dixon, CA.

Published in The Gazette Feb. 26, 2013.