“Goodbye darling” she said, and walked down to the Lexington Avenue local as regally and familiarly as if she were going down the stairs at the Colony Club. Goodbye Fanny, there will never ever be anyone remotely like you.

Richard Lee Brennan

Good evening. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Richard Lee Brennan, Fanny’s second son after Christopher. I’m also called Dick, Dicky and some other variations of my Uncle and Grandfather’s name that have fortunately fallen into disuse.
I will say some things about my mother but at the risk of sounding like an Academy Award winner, I must begin my remarks with some thank yous.
First, thank you to all of my fellow speakers for so beautifully evoking Fanny Brennan for us. Anyone faced with the task of describing her immediately senses the limits of words. When there is so little time to conjure her up, ones mind seems to flood with superlatives. You have each brought her to life for us in a different way and I can think of no better birthday present to her, in which we all can share.
Next I would like to thank Larry Salander, Leigh Morse, Eric Larsen and the rest of the Gallery staff for their unwavering encouragement and support for my mother and her work over the years. The gallery was the stage on which her art was presented and without them the shows would not have gone on. This was her home away from home and a regular way station on her errands about town. She also became quite addicted to the endless quantities of free Xeroxing and postage.
The generosity and hard work of the Gallery have made this evening’s celebration possible.
Thanks must go to her collectors. Their interest and enthusiasm for her work spurred her on to keep painting and enabled her to do what she loved best.
Her brilliant physicians, Doctor Cathy Hart and Doctor Jeffrey Tepler are deserving of thanks from all of us. Their extraordinaryand thoughtful care was enormously reassuring for my mother and the rest of us, and they made an otherwise difficult time so much easier.
My brother Chris and his wife Ellen were wonderful throughout our Mother’s illness. They stayed in constant touch, spent countless hours on the road to and from Pennsylvania for frequent visits, despite having the added stress of having to care for Ellen’s ailing mother as well. Their stalwart support gave great comfort to Fanny and helped me tremendously through the most difficult periods.

Fanny Brennan, Floating Books, hand-crafted lithograph.
Paper size: 6 x 7 inches. Signed and numbered in pencil.