Leslie Louis Brennan, Jr.

You might be expecting a traditional obituary for Leslie Louis Brennan, Jr., but this will be a bit different from your typical obit that recounts someone’s life. Instead, I’m honoring Dad the way we, his daughters, family, and friends, best remember him… with a story, or rather, a few stories. The Brennans love good stories, something we got from Dad - telling them, hearing them, repeating them, even prompting them. 

This non-obituary obituary is also inspired by Dad’s favorite book, Don Quixote, by Cervantes. That book has a narrator who describes the story of a man who believes himself to be a gallantand brave knight battling monsters and protecting damsels, filling in background details as needed. While I’m no Cervantes, I thought Dad would appreciate this style of writing and that it would suit him better. So, I’m going to share some stories about Dad and give some background details as needed.

Growing up, Les’s daughters were often granted the privilege of hearing his stories about his life and experiences (whether they liked it or not). Stories about how he went to the movies every weekend as a young child with his aunts (he probably saw every movie ever made between 1940-2020!), the trouble he got into playing in the neighborhood, the times he got injured or had narrow escapes from death (according to Dad, how he avoided narrowly escaped death at least 25 times over the course of his life), and how he first met our Mom, Annette (née Gangemi) Brennan, when they were teenagers (and he threw grapes at her from across the street to get her attention). 

In October 2022, Dad visited NY with his daughters and went back to see his street, where his apartment building and the butcher shop next door (where he worked as a teen) used to be, Mom’s apartment building a few blocks over (still there and looking the same from the outside!), where he and Mom first kissed (an alley between two buildings leading to Annette’s friend’s house), and the places he played and hung out with friends. 

Growing up, Dad spent a few years as a young Boy in Oneida, upstate New York, but spent most of his childhood years in Astoria (Queens, NY). He played baseball in empty fields and lots, climbed on buildings running away from police when spotted in such a dangerous place, he learned how to throw a sickle he found in an empty field (crazy, right?!), and taught himself how to use a big rope he found as a lasso (that’s a whole other story that I’ll share later!). He delivered grapes to Italian guys in the neighborhood who would make homemade wine. He worked at a butcher shop, making sausages and doing deliveries with his father, Leslie A.Brennan, who worked for the same Butcher. 

Dad attended aviation high school in New York City in Manhattan. He was a mechanical genius. He understood machines, how they worked and importantly, and had incredible insight about faulty machines and how they could be fixed when they didn’t work. He was trained as a general airplane mechanic and specialized in testing fuel control units for jet engines. He worked in aviation for Pan Am (1957-1990) and the U. S. Army at Floyd Bennet Field (1961-1963). 

When Dad was drafted into the army and went to basic training (at Fort Dix), he was recognized as a firearms expert (sharpshooter and marksman). He attributed this skill to years of experience shooting a game gun in a theater bar (shooting fake ducks) as a child. He played this game every Saturday (having to stand on a crate since he was so small) when he went to the movies with his aunts and apparently, became very good. When he started shooting real guns during basic training, he found his game shooting experience helped, and won an award as the top firearmsexpert in his class. He told us that after during the first week of shooting, the targets were not being changed. His shots began to look like they were completely missing the targets. So, he was sent to have his sights checked. Turned out, his aim was so good, his shots were going through the holes in the targets and not registering as hits! Luckily for him, he went into aviation and did not become a sniper (something he would not have liked).

When he was stationed at Floyd Bennet Field, which was in Brooklyn, he was close enough to home to go visit Annette for the weekends and was able to leave the base for his weekly bowling league. In fact, he left the base so often, one of his superior officers noticed his name on the log out sheet, but he misread his handwriting and commented that Punchy Brennan was leaving all the time. Hence, a new nickname was born. 

As I mentioned, he worked for Pan Am before being drafted and honorably discharged after his service in Brooklyn ended. His area of expertise was testing fuel control units, a job that required use a simulation machine to test the function of each unit and running multiple diagnostic tests to ensure the unit would work during commercial jet flights during all kinds of atmospheric conditions. When the units failed, he would use his diagnostic skills to identify where the problem was located, and which part or parts needed to be repaired or replaced. Not only was he great at this job, but from how he talked about it, he really loved doing it. 

While at Pan Am in the 1970s, he also taught himself computer programming, specifically tocode in Fortran. He coded programs to run the test schedules. His programming career was short lived since a janitor turned off the computer which turned off the cooling and burned the computer out. Having taught himself to program without any related training or education, his daughters realized that he was way more intelligent than he gave himself credit for. 

In 1990, after 33 years working for Pan Am, he retired and went to work for a private aviation company, AAR Corp. AAR hired him because they had over 30 (maybe 50?!) fuel control units and no one there could test, diagnose, and repair them. They had the simulator, but no one knew how to run it. When he started, they expected that it would take him a year (or maybe longer) to test, diagnose, and repair all those units, but Dad had them all done in about a month. When he asked his supervisor what he should do next, his boss and the company were amazed that he had gotten them all repaired. He was told that he could do whatever he wanted to do. So, he continued testing fuel controls as they arrived and tooled around with other repairs and diagnostics as needed for the next 5 years, retiring in 1999 at age 59 years after 40 years in commercial aviation. One of my favorite work stories was that he “greased” his tools. His tools were not cheap, and he didn’t want anyone to borrow a tool and then accidentally forget who they borrowed it from or forget to return it. So, he put Vaseline on the handles of his tools so if anyone picked them up, they’d be grossed out and leave the tool instead of borrowing it. 

He also believed in having tools handy. He often carried random tools in his pocket, ready when the need arose. “Oh, you need a wrench, how about this one,” he’d ask as a wrench materialized out of his packet. He also loved polishing old rusty things. He once polished an old railroad spike till it gleamed like a mirror and then he gifted it to Mom’s Uncle Micky Martucci, who had worked on the railroad earlier in his life. 

When he and Mom retired, they moved to Sedona, Arizona. After about 2 years in a townhome dealing with the Sedona tourist traffic, they bought a house 20 minutes south in Cornville, Arizona. That house was perfect for Dad, since it was next to a golf course. Dad loved golf. And he was very good at it. He played his up until last fall and only stopped because his arthritis meant he couldn’t play as well as he used to. Not only was Dad good at golf, but he had a lot of fun with it, teeing off with his vintage putter when it was windy and fixing ALL the divots he saw (not just his!). He won first, second, or third place in many tournaments in his men’s clubs over the past 20 years and numerous trophies and plaques can be found throughout the housecommemorating his wins. He also collected golf balls and there are five huge golf ball displays in the garage. His brother, Tom Brennan, lives nearby and they often played golf together. Dad would often have lunch with his golf friends at the clubhouse after playing. He also loved bowling, a sport he shared with all three of his daughters. Coaching them and their teams (once to first place in a NY state team tournament in 1989!). 

He told me a bowling story once, that he threw a perfect shot and right before the ball got to the pocket, it jumped! He told the alley manager that there was a bolt on the lane. The manager didn’t believe him, the pins were 60 feet away - how could anyone see a bolt from that distance. But Dad said there was no other way for the ball to have jumped up and it was under the pin resetting machine, so a bolt could have come loose. Well, he was right. Crazy thing, one time I was bowling AND THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME! Exactly the same - a bolt in the same spot and ball that jumped before hitting the pocket!

He also loved watching golf, bowling, football, and hockey. When the NY Islanders were a new team, he had season tickets with a friend and attended games regularly. He was an unusual sports fan and never had favorite teams (he liked the NY Rangers, NY Islanders, and the NY Giants), really, he just wanted to see good games. 

In addition to stories, Dad loved movies. He’d rewatch movies he loved and would talk about what other movies the actors had been in. That interest was definitely passed on to his daughters and we all love to share what other movies or series people were in and if or how their roles overlapped. Some of Dad’s favorite movies included The Equalizer, The Princess Bride, Young Frankenstein, Shrek, Paul, My Cousin Vinny, Titanic, and Renaissance Man. He was so good at movie trivia that when he played Trivial Pursuit against his daughters, he’d almost always win (as long as he stuck with the Movies & Entertainment category). Dad also quoted movies constantly, especially when it could draw a laugh. And Dad was good at making us laugh. 

Dad was always funny, had a story for any situation, was kind and gracious to everyone, while also being a wise ass who cracked jokes to lighten the mood but never to cause offense. He was open minded, thoughtful, caring, sensitive, and intelligent. He liked having arguments and debates for fun. He enjoyed music and reading. He loved the Jack Reacher and James Bond novels and enjoyed books by Lee Child, Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Ian Fleming, and Isaac Asimov. His favorite book was Don Quixote by Cervantes and loved the musical, Man of La Mancha. He also loved easy listening instrumental music, but he also loved singers with great voices. He enjoyed watching videos from great auditions on America’s/Britain’s Got Talent. He loved old coins, photography, science, history, and art. He loved looking at the sky, looking at clouds, beautiful sunsets, shooting stars, and lightning during thunderstorms. He loved his dogs, Chipper, Lance, Sidney Monique Jacquelyn, Chazz BuckleyTucker Melvin, Kira Olivia Newton John Bartok Princes Leah Colossus of Roads (not a spelling error), and his grand dogs, Chewie and Pippin. 

I asked my sisters if there were stories they wanted me to include here. Lori and Denise both requested the lasso story, which was certainly our favorite story when we were all younger (and one we all now know by heart). When Dad was a boy he played a lot on his own in empty fields and lots near his house. On one occasion he found a rope. He decided he wanted to figure out how to use it like a lasso, so he fooled around and practiced lassoing a garbage can. On his way home he ran into another boy who gave him a hard time. Dad brushed it off till the boy said an equivalent of a “Your Momma” comment by today’s standards. Dad got mad and the boy, seeing Dad get angry, started to run away. Lasso in hand, Dad swung that rope, lassoed the boy around his neck and started to run the other way. The boy got loose and took off. Dad, figuring he was about to be in big trouble, ran home to hide. A little while later, there was a knock on their door. The boy, with a bright red rope burn around his neck stood next to his irate and very large mother. Dad’s Mom (a little lady in comparison) heard what Dad had done. She asked him if the story was true, and he admitted it was. She then asked why he’d done it and he said because the boy said “bad things” about you. Hearing what her son had said, the boy’s mother turned to her son and asked him if he had said those things. As the boy started to nod yes, his mother smacked him against the wall, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him off. With the conversation between mothers done, Dad would live to lasso again. 

We have so many more stories that Dad told us over the years. Stories about growing up, work, school, being in the army, and just living life. And there were so many more things he loved about life than we included here. He really did enjoy life. He was fun and engaging to talk to. For us, his daughters, all his stories and the things he loved will be things we treasure forever. For those who knew him, we’re sure you have your own stories, too. Treasure those and share them. Make others laugh hearing stories about him. He’d like that.

What’s left? Well, a whole lot, actually, but this is already approaching the length of a novella, so I’ll end with this… Leslie Louis Brennan, Jr., nicknames included Butchie and Punchy, was born on March 19, 1940 (during the Feast of St. Joseph) in New York City and died too soon on July 8, 2024, at the age of 84 at home in Cornville, Arizona. With all his daughters present, he passed at 7:47pm on 7/08/24, which is fitting given his love of 747 and 708 jets. He was married to Annette for 51 years until her passing in 2014. He is also preceded in death by his parents, Viola (née Feehan) and Leslie A. Brennan, and his brother, John Brennan (Marilyn), and his sister-in-law, Maureen Brennan. He leaves his daughters, Lori, Christine (Frank Dachille), and Denise Brennan, and his brother, Tom Brennan (Toni). Les was liked or loved by every person he met. He was a kind, funny, gentle, and intelligent man who made the world a happier, better place, and he will be missed greatly. 

To end, I share a quote from Don Quixote: 

“One man scorned and covered with scars with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world will be better for this.” That was Dad, with scars from the trials of life, brave and courageous, trying to do the best job he could always, and leaving the world a better place for the rest of us. 

If you want to remember and honor our Dad, your friend, Les, think fondly of him when you next watch a movie, make someone laugh, enjoy a sunset or a thunderstorm, play golf, or read a good book. And, like he was throughout the entirety of his life, be kind to everyone, even when you’re having a really bad day. 

-Christine Brennan, favorite daughter (kidding, sort of) of Les Brennan.

Donations can be made in Les’s memory to any of the following charities:

The ANCHOR Program Fund, Inc. https://www.campanchor.org

St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital https://www.stjude.org

The Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) https://www.paws.org

Donations towards a celebration of life (to be held this fall in Arizona) can be sent directly to Lori, Christine, or Denise.