April 4, 1918 Naysh Brennan

Today Mary goes to the movies with two of her sisters.  She later finds out that "Naysh" called her up shortly after she had left.  This is the first time she mentions Naysh (sometimes she spells it Nyash) Brennan, who appears several times in her diary.  She is clearly very fond of him.

Ignatius (Naysh) Brennan was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania on May 2, 1898 to Margaret T. and Dr. James Brennan, a dentist.  He had three brothers and two sisters.  By 1920 he had graduated from the Temple University School of Dentistry.  In 1922 he bought an expensive piece of real estate in downtown Shenandoah, presumably for this dental office.  He was still living at home with his mother in 1930 according to the U.S. Census.  The building in which his dental office was located was destroyed by fire in 1931.  At least one newspaper article describes him as a prominent oral surgeon.  He gave several professional talks on dental anesthesia and other topics.

He married Catherine O'Hearn in 1937 and they had one son and four daughters.  His 13 year old daughter died of polio in 1951.

Naysh was very active in civic activities, serving as the President of the Shenandoah School Board (or Board of Education) from at least 1931 to 1945, member of the Schuylkill Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (starting two years after his daughter died), Board of Directors of the United National Bank in Shenandoah, President of the Pennsylvania Dental Association, active in the March of Dimes, cofounder of radio station WMBT (in West Mahanoy Township, PA), and received an award from Pope Pius XII.

One of his brothers was a physician, another a dentist.  A third brother went into the priesthood and ultimately became a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.

Naysh's wife died at age 49 in 1956 from burns after a match ignited her clothing.  Naysh Brennan died January 12, 1984.

While Mary had regular interactions with Naysh in 1918, it is not known if they remained in contact in subsequent years.