Ilion High School - Class of 1886

Source pdf file is here Illion NY Sentinel 1944-1946 (1) - 0991.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Rites Held For Late J. E. Brennan

Five nephews and a nephew-in-law acted as pall bearers Tuesday at the funeral of John E. Brennan, 52 John St., who died Saturday in Ilion hospital. They were Robert Brennan, Buffalo; James Brennan Connecticut; Bernard Tracy, Utica; B. J. and John Tracy, Ilion; and Major Edgar Hamlin, Springfield, Mass.

Honorary pall bearers were Leo Powers, Kent McGowan, Thomas Harrison, J. Guy Prindle, William McGreevy, Grover Radley, A. L. Lowe, Earl Watkin, E. E. Barney, R. J. Simmons, and S. W. Rose.

Friends and former business associates attended the rites at the Church of the Annunciation which were conducted by the Rev. Daniel Horan, pastor assisted at the cemetery by the Rev. Gerald Millet. Mr. Brennan had been a choir director at the church for 40 years and the choir members rendered special music during the service with Miss Clare Wasmer and Howard Hoffman as soloists. Leo Murphy and George Hart acted as ushers.

A native and for all of his 77 years a resident of Ilion, Mr. Brennan has been identified with many civic activities and was widely known for his musical ability.

He was the son of Frank and Elizabeth Brennan and graduated from the Ilion high school in 1886. On August 19, 1902, he married Elisabeth Hayes, who survives, together with a daughter, Miss Eleanor Brennan, and a son, Francis Hayes Brennan, lieutenant commander, USNR, now on terminal leave.

Mr. Brennan was with the Remington Arms Company for 36 years and during that time he rose to be vice-president in charge of operations of four companies: Remington Arms and Remington Cash Register of Ilion, and Remington Ammunition Works and Remington Cutlery Works of Bridgeport, Conn. He had been a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

At the time of his death Mr. Brennan was a member of the Ilion Library Board and Shakespeare Club and a former member of the Ilion Board of Education, the Ilion Hospital Board and the Beard of Light Commissioners as well as a director of the Ilion National Bank and the Manufacturers National Bank and a former member of the Conversation Club.

He was a member of the Church of the Annunciation and its Holy Name Society and in addition to being choir director for 40 years, had been a member of many bands and orchestras in Central New York in past years.

Besides his immediate family he is survived by several nieces, nephews.