Remembering Kelly Brennan

At about 6:00 AM on Tuesday June 26th the HyannisNews phone ran. The caller, was a member of the media who informed me that there was a bad crash on Old Chatham Road in Dennis and I should probably head that way. 

Upon my arrival, it was immediately clear that the result would not be good. Police at the scene confirmed that there had been a fatality. It would be the second fatality I had covered in as many hours as I encountered the equally tragic crash on the Mid-Cape on my way there from Hyannis. It was a very sad morning for me. It is bad enough to cover fatal accidents when it is an adult, but it is much harder when it is a child or a teenager involved.

A few hours later I was to learn that the crash had taken the life of a 2006 Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School graduate named Kelly Ann Brennan.

I did not know Kelly personally...  but it turned out one of my kids who also attended DY in 2006 did know her. I had to tell him the bad news. He wondered if I could get a photo of her.

Later that afternoon, the phone rang again and a caller said he was a friend of Kelly's. He thanked us for our coverage of the accident. He went on to say that he and several of her other friends had started erecting a memorial for her at the site.

He asked if it would be possible for us to go back and take a picture of it and add it to the story so that maybe more of her friends would add to it. I agreed to do it but after meeting several of her friends decided to try to do more, and that was the inspiration for this Kelly Memorial Page.

The next day, I went to the road side memorial at the crash site and took the promised pictures and they are included below. While I was taking the photos, a friend of Kelly's came by to pay her respects. She told me that Kelly used to live in the DY School District, but then her family moved to Harwich. She elected to complete her high school with her friends at DY.

She told me she worked at Stop & Shop in Yarmouth but later transferred to the Stop and Shop in Harwich. She told me Kelly always wore he seat belt, but did not think she was wearing it that morning. She said that Kelly was returning home when it happened.

I asked her what Kelly was like. She lit up with praise for her friend. She told me Kelly was a wonderful and popular girl. She was a great friend who was always doing things for others. Then the look on her face changed to sadness and she added she couldn't believe she was gone.

In the time since this tragic accident, we have encountered many of Kelly's friends. All said essentially the same thing. We did not hear a negative word about her.

PHOTOS OF KELLY'S ROADSIDE MEMORIAL

CLICK EACH PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Friends of Kelly's are invited to download and print any of these photos if they wish to do so. Please also consider sharing a favorite memory of Kelly by clicking one of the comment links at the top or bottom of this page.  

Comments can be anonymous if you like. This page will be a permanent part of HyannisNews.com that you will be able to look back on in the future by searching for her name. Our condolences go out to her friends and family.

To all of Kelly's friends... I hope that if anything positive at all is to come out of this sad event, it would be to remind you all to please drive more carefully and please remember to wear your seatbelts - EVERY time you drive.

The only survivor between both accidents that tragic morning was the one person wearing their seat belt. Unfortunately, there is no way to undo what happened to Kelly. But, if the memory of what happened to Kelly Brennan last Tuesday morning helps to save any one of her friends from the same fate sometime in the in the future, I think that would make Kelly happy.