Erin Catherine Brenneman, 26
Erin Catherine Brenneman passed away on Saturday, July 15, 2017, in Portland, due to injuries suffered in a hit-and-run incident. She was surrounded by friends and family. She was 26 years old.
Erin was born in Kalispell to Cathy Bonham Brenneman and Joseph Duane Brenneman on April 4, 1991. She attended Fair-Mont-Egan Elementary School and graduated from Flathead High School in 2009. After a brief stint at Flathead Valley Community College, Erin attended Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in peace and justice and conflict resolution. While living in Goshen, she worked at Ryan’s Place, a children’s grief support center. After college, Erin returned home to Kalispell and worked at Montana Coffee Traders for several years, which would become one of her most beloved spots and where she made many close friends, before relocating to Portland in 2015. There, she established an extraordinary community of friends, family and coworkers who loved her deeply and nurtured her in all that she did. At the time of her death, Erin was the manager of Hungry Heart Bakery in the Montavilla neighborhood and a volunteer at Women’s Residential Center, a treatment and rehabilitation center, and was planning to attend graduate school in the fall to get her master’s degree in social work.
Erin was sweet and stubborn, compassionate and hilarious, unpredictable and always available to help. Through the struggles in her life, Erin developed a personal strength and a commitment to loving and respecting all that she met, without ever losing her wicked sense of humor. She was truly dedicated to making the world a better, kinder place, however possible.
Erin loved everything about coffee, from brewing it to drinking it, to finding unique places in which it is served. She loved each of the communities she built in her numerous places of employment. She loved journaling and writing and kept a prolific blog. She loved the farm where she grew up. She loved her pets, especially cats, even when they didn’t seem to love her. She loved riding her bike in Portland and calling her family while riding, so that it was very difficult to hear what she was saying. She had a famous sense of humor — often silly, often biting, always on alert. She loved to tease others and to make fun of herself. She had a nearly bottomless generosity and care for others and never ceased to amaze those who knew he — and those who didn’t — with her compassion and thoughtfulness. She loved music and books and she claimed to hate movies, although she actually liked a few. Dearest of all to Erin, everywhere she went, were her friends and family, for whom she would do anything. They work now to continue that legacy.
Erin is survived by her father Joseph Brenneman and stepmother Nancy Pensa, of Kalispell; her brother Jesse Brenneman and sister-in-law Catherine Lea, of Brooklyn, New York; her stepsiblings Ian Paulson and Autumn Mansfield, of Kalispell; her maternal grandfather Robert Bonham, of Kalispell; and her paternal grandparents Clifford and Shirley Brenneman, also of Kalispell. She also leaves behind her partner, Jon Dennis, of Ontario, Oregon; and her honorary siblings Kenneth and Bente Grinde of Missoula; and a vast network of extended family, coworkers, friends, housemates and pets who will miss her terribly but will do their best to live up to the standard she set. She will be missed and she will be celebrated.
A celebration of Erin’s life will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 30, at Mountain View Mennonite Church in Kalispell. Another celebration will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug.16, at Glenwood Park in Portland. All are welcome.