In Loving Memory of Wendy Reeves Brennan
Please help us come together during this heart wrenching time of grief in raising funds to not only put on a beautiful celebration of life to honor Wendy, but also to help relieve her survived children of these immense unexpected costs associated with her sudden passing (including hospital bills, family flights, cremation service, AZ & NY memorials, being out of work for weeks, mom’s bills/fees: legal, medical, debt, car payments/utilities, etc.)
Read Wendy’s legendary life story below:
Wendy Jean Reeves Brennan was called from this mortal realm to her heavenly home on March 10, 2021 at the ripe age of 58. We think she maybe left on purpose to avoid living in a cruel world where Trump wasn’t president, the Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t winning and her new dietary restrictions were forcing her to eat “yucky” veggies instead of Andy’s Candies sponge rock.
She leaves a behind a highly dysfunctional family that she was very proud of including her 3 children, James(36), David(29) and Brittney(28), as well as her 3 furbabies, dozens of exotic fish and hundreds(maybe thousands?) of beanie babies. Let the family know if you’re interested in any stuffed animals, furbies, tomogatchis, porcelain dolls, Steelers memorabilia, or perhaps a fish or 5.
From humble beginnings, Wendy was the youngest daughter of 6 kids who grew up in Wayne County’s Walworth, a rural area outside of Rochester in Upstate NY. In true impulsive Wendy fashion, she was delivered in the back of the family car on Plank rd by her dad on the way to the hospital on January 16, 1963. In a strict, traditional 60’s household in a sea of siblings, Wendy found the spark that made her shine in dancing. From elementary school through high school graduation, she poured herself into tap, jazz and (mostly)ballet until she transferred that passion into teaching. When she wasn’t immersed in dancing, she was sneaking around desperately trying to have fun as a kid. Between making homemade cardboard sandals to keep up with fashion trends, washing off makeup before getting home from school, practicing piercing ears or bikini clad fun in the snow with her big sister and dearest friend, Kathy— or causing chaos with her two lifelong friends, Gina LaPlaca(Clark) and Wendy Emmison(Helbig)— Wendy never wanted to take life too seriously. They often looked to Wendy’s brothers David, Donald and Tim and their friends for fun hangouts at the catamaran or “The Box” Reeves family cottage up at the 1000 islands.
Wendy’s stern father, David Reeves, showed his soft spot for his youngest daughter when offering to pay for her to elevate her dancing career. However, her stubborn nature lead her down an alternative path of freedom seeking. After high school, 18 year old Wendy eagerly left the nest and was taken in by her eldest brother David’s then partner, Starr. On a day off from working her first job on an assembly line at a tool machine shop in Webster, NY, Starr took her son, Davey to Webster park to play frisbee with aunt Wendy. This was the day she first met Dave Brennan, who would become the father to her 3 children and husband for 22 years.
Although Dave wasn’t yet ready for full commitment when he met Wendy at the park in ‘81, he was immediately drawn to her undeniably stunning beauty and sweet yet spunky personality. Wendy and Dave continued to casually fan their initial spark throughout the early 80’s until she eventually got her lifelong dream in 1984: motherhood. If Wendy was put on this planet to do one thing, it was to be a mom. Even through Dave’s early shenanigans and commitment issues, Wendy adored him even more so for blessing her life with her first born son, James David— aka Jamie. On the 14th of December, she vouched to love, protect and provide for her baby boy; for the next five years it was Wendy and Jamie against the world. She moved in with her mom, Gloria, who watched Jamie while she worked countless hours at Doyle Chevrolet to make sure her son never wanted for anything. After years of never expecting or asking a thing, Dave was naturally enamored of her strength and independence.
By 1989, it had finally dawned on Dave to put his philanderous ways behind and officially settle down with the incredibly impressive, beautiful young Wendy who was raising his son. The young happy family took huge steps in relocating from their used-furniture Waverly Woods apartment to their beautiful starter home on Pioneer Drive in the suburbs of Fairport. These monumental changes in Wendy’s early life excited the small town girl she was at heart. Her future was brighter than ever, and she was over the moon entering the new decade together as a family by tying the knot June 16, 1990. By the following summer, The Brennan’s we’re happily welcoming their second son. Not wanting James to feel left out or replaced, Wendy decided on her brilliant idea to name baby #2 the reversal of Jamie’s name, David James. Within a year, Wendy got another wish granted— her third pregnancy. Amongst the many physical/mental health issues that unraveled throughout her life, she proclaimed that she was never healthier or in better spirits than when she was carrying her babies. However Wendy was indeed racked with nerves for 9 months on this last one, desperately wishing for a girl without word on the gender. Instead of throwing a Dirty30 birthday bash, Wendy waited on pins and needles until February of 1993, her daughter, Brittney, entered the world.
To say Wendy thrived in motherhood in the 90’s would be an understatement. She ensured that her kids were the coolest, and biggest hearted on the block. The Brennan family strutted into the new century moving into their first custom-built Mt. Liberty Drive home in 2000. Apart from her enthusiasm from helping her husband build the family legacy of Brennan Automotive Inc., the new neighborhood became a tool for Wendy to truly find herself and was ultimately a highlight of her life. Between putting together big neighborhood bashes, hosting holiday parties, or linking up with neighboring families for vacations allowed her to blossom socially.
Vacations to Orlando, Florida were a staple tradition that was especially loved by the child-at-heart and tanaholic Wendy throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s. She would have done anything in later years for one last fun vacation with her 3 kids, particularly to Hawaii! Wendy’s adolescent essence made her a fun-loving mom who could genuinely relate to the young spirit of kids. Her quirky inner child came out in full force around the holidays—to coin Wendy as the queen of Christmas just wouldn’t do her justice! Between her deep obsession with Rudolph, the Grinch, and all the classics(besides Frosty, she hated him), she was her family’s Christmas Hero. Wendy was the epitome of “the cool mom” and neighbor, and drove through life in a (fast)lane of her own. Would an uncool mom take her children x-rated movies, GUnit concerts, or to get underaged tattoos in a basement?Probably not! Some called it enabling, or even inappropriate, but Wendy refused to let her kids want for or miss out on anything. She promised herself to never shelter her kids in the the same overprotective fashion of her childhood, nor to try to mold them in any way that would cause them to rebel, keep potentially dangerous secrets, or resent her. However, Wendy definitely showed her overprotectiveness by always vouching to protect her kids from anything that questioned their authenticity.
Between her personal love for collecting and enjoying toys, games, crafts, treats, etc. she resonated to her children as both a mom and permanent best friend. Not only was she a friend, she was her kids biggest, proudest cheerleader who poured an overflowing amount of pure love into each of their 3 cups. She permanently followed her babies around with camera or recorder in hand, and unfortunately was usually too enthralled in the pride of them to hop in any of the photos herself. Aside from overindulging her kids by sneaking shopping bags in from the car while Dad wasn’t looking, Wendy spoiled them in encouragement. She instilled her love for valuable toys (and WWF/WWE wrestling!) into her oldest, James, and encouraged him to never stop collecting, no matter how old he grew. With her support, Wendy got to see Jamie’s own collector dreams come true when opening his toy store a few years back. Putting on her JBToys shirt was one of her proudest, brightest days in her latter years. Wendy stood behind David unconditionally in following in the footsteps of his classic car-obsessed father, bragging about his knowledge and collection to everyone she encountered. She was eager to represent his business venture and “rock” a Level 1 Classic Cars hoodie. As for Brittney, Wendy was simply her all-around hype woman. Wendy was so elated to have a daughter, and considered herself the luckiest momma to have gotten the “best one”. From sports to art, New York to Arizona, Wendy was always right beside her daughter in full best friend and mom mode. She was especially proud of her daughter’s booming brow business, BLADED. Between Wendy’s shihtzu’s Pomeranians, and french bulldogs, it’s a close call on who she obsessed over more... the babies she carried in her belly, or the ones she carried in her purses. Mom or dog mom, Wendy was an angel on earth to all.
After colossal life hurdles of losing her father in the early 2000’s, in conjunction with the unfortunate beginnings of mental and physical health deterioration, her special sparkle began to dull, as Wendy and Dave’s flame began to slowly burn out. In her selfless, maternal nature, she attempted to glue together a broken household for years longer than she thought possible in order to avoid the trauma a divorce inevitably brings children. Her youngest, Brittney, moving to sunny Arizona for college was the turning point that motivated Wendy to take the final step of ending her 22+ year life chapter with Dave.
With the help of her sister Kathy, Wendy finally found the strength to leave a situation that she no longer found happiness in. By 2012, a newly divorced Wendy was en route to Phoenix, Arizona, after saying a heart-torturing goodbye to life as she knew it, including her beloved boys, family, home, and some pets. Although this bittersweet ending tormented Wendy to leave her grown sons behind, she was in desperate need of a bright future with a clean slate for her own mental survival. The change of weather, scenery and time zone was the healing she needed, but equally as damaging to the hole in her heart that was permanently carved out by being thousands of miles from her boys.
In Arizona, Wendy found happiness in bragging about her illegal hobby of moonshine making, foodie expertise, and standing out from the laid-back, west-coast crowd with her outgoing, blunt “New Yorker” personality. To say she lacked a filter would be a grotesque understatement. In hindsight, she was forced into growing up fast, and had fun in acting young the older she grew. After decades of being a reserved people-pleaser, Wendy eventually blossomed into the wild firecracker, nothing-off-limits personality that her new Arizona family fell madly in love with. If her world-renown crazy antics didn’t win them over, her badass cooking skills definitely did.
With that said she was genuine to a fault, a pistol at heart(or “a hoot”), and yet she couldn’t sugar coated a thing if she tried. Her extensive vocabulary was more than highly proficient at knowing more bad words than most people learned in a lifetime— Wendy liked four letter words as much as she loved garlic knots, garlic butter and garlic garlic seasoning... and her love for garlic almost paralleled her kids.
Wendy found comfort in times she could be her authentic, quirky self. This lead her to especially value her friendships she made in Joe Bono and Cliff Barton (to name a few) who treated her to countless motorcycle rides or shooting guns— two of Wendy’s all time favorite pastimes. She also looked forward to her annual visits from her best friend and sister, Kathy, who would always move mountains to visit her little sister across the country. Besides Arizona giving Wendy a new support system throughout her last decade in this world, it also re-instilled her childhood passion for all things botanical. She spent her first week in and out of the desert nurseries, where she of course was warmly welcomed by a classic scorpion sting. Who knew that gnarly sting would translate into an addiction for nighttime blacklight scorpion hunting! Her daily daytime routine consisted of collecting her fake Facebook blackjack “winnings” and a lot of morning cups of decaf coffee on her beautiful back patio with the company of her pups. Her patio was always her sanctuary, mainly because it was her happy place where she could admire the beloved hummingbirds that would frequent her feeders all day, especially while she up-kept her famous, killer tan basking in the strong desert sun.
Although she often mentioned a gut-feeling of not expecting to grow old, Wendy’s biggest life end goal was to watch her babies get married and start families. She struggled immensely with the “limbo stage” between her kids being kids and having kids of their own. She couldn’t wait to be “MeeMaw” to grandbabies. It goes without saying that Wendy would have been an epic grandma— or as she would say, she would have been “the tits”. Wendy thankfully got a sweet taste of grandparenthood, thanks to her niece Michele, who named her as her son Jayden’s God Mother.
Wendy was perfect, beautiful and tiny as always, even in her final moments with a weakened heart. She was a true empath who felt everything so deeply. Wendy always carried the weight of the world’s problems on her fragile, yet tough back, draining her heart in filling the cups of her loved ones until she had nothing left to give. Albeit God calling her home earlier than planned has left an insatiable hole in the hearts of those she left behind, Wendy spent her final weeks miraculously free of the fog that had tormented her psyche for years as she exited this world in beautifully high spirits on the early morning of March 10, 2021. As a diehard lover of napping, Wendy is without a doubt at peace with her physical body resting in a forever nap. Although many loved ones will permanently mourn the loss of her beautiful light, Wendy’s iconic legacy will continue to make us smile, shake the world and burn in our hearts forever.
Following her wishes, there will not be a traditional religious funeral service, but yet a cremation(she could never get warm enough!) at Wyman Cremation & Burial Chapel in Mesa, AZ, followed by a celebration of life. Sending healing prayers, well-wishes, and candy crush lives are encouraged, as well as motorcycle joyrides, hibachi dinner celebrations, steal a pfchangs plate(iykyk), hang a hummingbird feeder, plant a gardenia or lilac bush, or just take a smoke break in Wendy’s honor. Donations are deeply appreciated to assist the children for the many unexpected costs resulting from this sudden tragedy via GoFundMe.
Please Join us in celebrating the beautifully remarkable life of Wendy Reeves Brennan. As you all know, Wendy loved to laugh and make fun memories with her loved ones, and we can’t wait to join together to rejoice in these memories. Come raise a glass (of Gold Peak lemonade tea) to Wendy as we gather to remember her exciting life that was cut far too short. Please stop by, or stay from 3-8pm Friday, March 26th at the Lakefront Lodge in Webster Park (1120 Lake Rd, Webster, NY 14580). Thank you all in advance for helping us create meaning from this sudden loss, strengthen bonds and celebrate Wendy in the fun-loving way she would want.
