Obituary: Annette Theresa Brennan 1942 - 2014

Annette Theresa Brennan of Cornville passed away on Thursday, December 11, 2014, at home with her daughters and husband by her side. She was 72 years old.

Annette was born in New York City to Mary and Angelo "Rocco" Gangemi in 1942. In her home town of Astoria in Queens, NY, Annette met Leslie Louis Brennan when she was 13 years old.

At that time, Les (age 15) worked loading boxes of grapes for a local wine maker. One day during work, Les threw grapes at Annette from across the street to get her attention. Annette and Les began dating a couple of years later and have been together ever since. They married in 1963 and moved out to Brentwood, Long Island, and subsequently to Seaford, Long Island. They had three daughters, Lori, Christine, and Denise.

Annette and Les were incredibly handy, taking on many independent and creative home projects. For example, they built a Japanese rock garden, a pirate chest full of gold coins, swords, and antique pistols, and a backyard ice skating rink.

In the 1970's, Annette taught herself to splice and edit Super 8mm film to create family movies with special effects including one in which her daughter was Princess Leia, and another one in which a daughter was Wonder Woman. She also learned to create films with stop motion animation using her daughter's toys.

Annette and Les moved out to Arizona in 1999 with the expectation of retirement; but, Annette didn't stop going. She continued to work and volunteer in the community up until 2013.

Annette was incredibly generous and thoughtful. She dedicated all her time and energy helping others. She was like another mother to the friends of her daughters. She was available to listen to someone's troubles, share information about the community, guide decisions, give a ride to a friend, visit friends who were ill, watch someone's home while they were out of town, and help someone bring groceries to the car.

She was always available to listen to a friend who needed to talk or who needed comfort during a difficult time.

During her time working at the Verde Santa Fe Clubhouse, she made herself available to all the members for things related and even unrelated to her job. According to Les, she was probably the world's best listener. Everyone who knew her, and even those who didn't, often sought her out as someone they could talk to and confide in about their troubles and they always walked away feeling better.

Annette is survived by her devoted and loving husband, Les Brennan, of Cornville, AZ; daughters, Lori Brennan, of Seaford, NY, Christine Brennan and her husband Frank Dachille, of Evanston, IL, and Denise Brennan, of Cornville, AZ; brother, Richard Gangemi, of Brooklyn, NY; granddaughter, Rebecca Dachille, Brooklyn, NY; and her dog, a maltipoo named Sidney Monique Jaqualin, who adored her.

Annette was a woman who meant so much to so many and will live on in many loving memories.

A memorial service is being held at Westcott Funeral Home in Cottonwood, AZ, on Monday, December 22, 2014, at 6:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at www.lls.org.

An online guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com

Information provided by survivors.