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It has pleased God to call to himself our dear brother,
BRENDAN JOHN TRACEY,
who died on July 8, 2000, in the sixteenth year of his life of love and service to his family,
his friends, and his Lord.
Brendan died in a car accident near the Grand Canyon in Arizona while touring the Western United States along with
three Brothers, a lay member of the faculty, and seventeen students from Chaminade High School. One of the Brothers
moderating the trip, Brother Lawrence John Zarzycki, S.M. was also killed in the accident. (Fortunately, the other
nine passengers in the van in which they were driving escaped without serious injury.)
Brendan was born on February 5, 1984, the third son of Brian and Veronica Tracey, and he grew up in Garden City.
Brendan attended St. Joseph’s School in Garden City, Stewart School in Garden City, and the Garden City Middle
School. His older brothers, Craig and Christopher, had already paved the road for him at Chaminade High School,
but Brendan insisted on making his own way.
Brendan was a young man with a great smile, a great heart, and a great faith in God. In his short life, he had
already accomplished many things, and he died while making a trip that he had dreamed of taking since he was ten
years old, when his older brother Craig participated in a similar Chaminade USA Tour. Brendan lived his life with
a ready smile, quiet enthusiasm, and a contagious appreciation for life. His glow of wonder and joy at family holidays
and celebrations always warmed the room and the hearts of his family. Brendan was always the first one up in the
morning for fishing trips with Grandpa on Lake Winnepesaukee, New Hampshire, and the last one to leave the yearbook
office at Chaminade in the evening.
Brendan worked hard at everything he tried to accomplish. Scholastically, he was an honors student and he also
dreamt that soon he could wear the red and gold jacket that symbolizes membership in the National Honor Society.
Brendan was an avid swimmer, a qualified lifeguard, a hockey enthusiast and a proud member of Chaminade’s championship
volleyball team. In all these situations, Brendan’s dedication and enthusiasm drove his accomplishments.
Brendan shared the deep faith of his parents. He was an altar server at St. Joseph’s Church in Garden City and
a daily communicant at the Chapel at Chaminade High School. Brendan lived a gospel life, always conscious of the
needs of others. Not only was he a kind and attentive family member and friend, but Brendan reached out also to
strangers, through the Emmaus Apostolic Program for volunteers at Chaminade. He dedicated many hours at senior
citizen centers, planting gardens for those in need, and participating in many other acts of charity for those
less fortunate than him. Indeed, for Brendan there were not enough hours in the day for all of the good things
he wanted to get done.
Brendan embraced two families who are now united in grief, his family at home and the Chaminade family. His loving
family at home- including his grandmother Mary, his aunts, uncles, and cousins- and many friends, will miss him
dearly but know that he will support them all in their sorrow. As he believed and trusted in the promises of Jesus,
so we too trust that Brendan now enjoys the fullness of eternity and that his good work has only begun. Brendan
would surely echo the prayer of St. Therese of Liseuex, a saint who died at only twenty-four years old, “I shall
spend my heaven doing good on earth”.
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