Adrienne Brennan always put the needs of others first

By Stephanie Hayes, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, April 13, 2008

Story Tools E-mail this story Contact the editor Print this story Comment on this story Social Bookmarking [+] Digg Facebook Stumbleupon Reddit Del.icio.us Newsvine

ADVERTISEMENT

TAMPA — "I have the perfect program for you!" said Adrienne Brennan. "It's the special-needs kids from broken families. It's the hardest program we have. It's the perfect challenge for you."

Tom Scarritt, a Tampa lawyer, was inquiring about Big Brothers Big Sisters with his wife. They both held jobs and had modest intentions when joining the organization.

But Ms. Brennan, then the program's local director, pushed. And the Scarritts listened, like a student listens to a teacher. In the end, they mentored the same child for seven years.

"There was never any question that you could always give more," said Scarritt. "That's the way she was."

• • •

From her early days in parochial school, Ms. Brennan felt a closeness to God. In the 1950s, while her friends dated and danced, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, N.Y.

By 17, she was a Catholic nun.

"It's a very personal calling, and the way that it gets expressed is different for every person," said Ms. Brennan's friend, Mary Arghittu, a Franciscan nun in Tampa. "Her uniqueness was her indomitable spirit and her passion to do the right thing and to try to make things possible for others who didn't have a voice of their own."

She earned degrees in classical language and religious studies, and she taught high school. But when her health started declining after 17 years in the order, she left and moved to Tampa.

Here, she took on a secular life of charity.

She worked with St. Paul's Catholic Church in Carrollwood, Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers Big Sisters. She worked with Tampa Crossroads rehab center for criminal offenders and visited female prisoners in jail.

And one day, Arghittu said, Ms. Brennan opened a newspaper. She saw a written piece on children with AIDS.

She was changed.

"I've been learning as much as I can about AIDS over the last two years so that I can make an intelligent decision about how to spend the next five or 10 years," she told the St. Petersburg Times in 1989.

She became a board member of the Francis House center for people with HIV and AIDS. She was the founder and president of the Children's AIDS Foundation of Tampa Bay. She recruited friends to help raise money and awareness.

She worked constantly, reaching out to sports teams and local entertainers for support. She became extremely well connected. When she spread herself too thin, she took religious retreats to refocus.

Ms. Brennan also fostered children, taking permanent custody of Jasmin-Renee and Zachary from the time they were babies. She also cared for another child, Sammie.

She stood up for them at any cost.

"They're African-American, and she was white. There were some horrible things people would say," said Tami Bradley, Ms. Brennan's friend. "She was extremely protective. She would do whatever she had to do to provide a home for these kids that was truly built around love."

• • •

Ms. Brennan died Friday afternoon under hospice care. She was 69.

She had battled lung cancer in private — most of her friends say they didn't find out until a few weeks ago. And even then, she didn't want many visitors. She had to look within herself to confront the illness.

She had to work it out with God.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or (727)
893-8857.