Obituary of Peggy Brennan

Peggy B. Brennan, a forty-six year resident of Olympia, passed away on April 13, 2010 of congestive heart failure in her home with her devoted daughters and health care attendants at her bedside.Peggy was born on April 3, 1926 in rural Waterloo, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. She was the youngest of three children born to Mae and William Clayton. Peggy started school early because she missed her brother who was already in school. Later, she was advanced a grade and graduated from high school at the early age of 16. Post commencement, Peggy immediately went to work in Harrisburg, PA, assisting in the administration of US WWII military efforts. There she met her future husband, Joe, while he attended technical military railway training prior to service in the European theater. After his discharge May ’46, he rejoined the Great Northern Railway in Whitefish, MT and arranged for Peggy to come out and marry him there on July 15, 1946. Peggy was a modern young woman of her times completely devoted to making a warm comfortable home for her family, Joe and their two girls. She and Joe moved to communities along the Great Northern Railway route from Whitefish, MT to Bonners Ferry, ID and onto Spokane, WA. After Joe graduated from Gonzaga Law School, Peggy’s family moved to Olympia for his appointment as a law clerk to the WA Supreme Court for a year in 1955. To pursue Joe’s law career, Peggy and her family moved back to Spokane, then onto Colfax, Seattle and finally again to Olympia, WA in 1964. She was truly the “supportive spouse”, assisting and sharing in the duties of hosting WA elected officials and administrators with Joe in his role as a legislative advocate from 1964 to 1992. Peggy had many opportunities to make and manage a home for her family through the many moves, which she did willingly and graciously with great attention to detail, great food and holiday celebrations. She enjoyed being outdoors and Peggy pursued vegetable and flower gardening especially roses and golf. She loved life and approached it with a great sense of humor and very high energy with an ever-enduring commitment to excellence. She was very hospitable and enjoyed entertaining, dining and playing bridge with friends. Peggy rarely took time to relax from her very busy schedule, but she always managed to find time to attend football games with Joe and watch her Mariners on television. During the course of her marriage of 63 years to Joe, she had many opportunities to travel extensively abroad with Washington State business development delegations. Her travels with Joe extended north to Prudhoe Bay, south to Melbourne, west to Singapore and east to Belgrade. Occasionally, the two would escape their demanding fast paced life to relax in their much beloved Maui, Hawaii. Peggy is survived by beloved daughters, Patricia and son-in-law Herman Vargas of Rogers, Arkansas, and Mary Brennan of Lacey. She will join Joe in the near future with her inurnment at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, WA. In lieu of flowers, her daughters ask that tax-deductible donations be made in memory of Peggy B. Brennan, to the American Heart Association: 708 Broadway, Suite 330, Tacoma WA 98402, or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA 1, or through their web site at www.americanheart.org/donate. Please request that an acknowledgment be sent to: The Daughters Brennan, 6012 Cotton Dr SE, Lacey, WA 98513. Memories and condolences may be left online by clicking on "View Guestbook" below.