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Highlands loses a cultural leader

Courtesy photo

From left: Jo and Gene Brenner. Mrs. Brenner was the president of the Heartland Cultural Alliance, an organization that is progressive in its approach to supporting and advertising the arts and culture of Highlands County and all of Central Florida.

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: October 23, 2009

SEBRING - The community lost one of its cultural leaders with the death Wednesday of Jo Brenner, 70, of Sebring, who was the wife of downtown Sebring merchant Gene Brenner. They shared 30 years of marriage together.

A week ago Wednesday, Mrs. Brenner suffered a massive stroke. After a week at Tampa General Hospital, she never regained consciousness.

After Jo Brenner was rushed to the Florida Hospital Emergency Room she was airlifted to the Tampa trauma center, and remained in that unit for nine hours before they moved her to the neuroscience ICU.

Brenner said his wife died as the result of an existing brain tumor for which she had received treatment since it was discovered in 1995.

Without warning

The past 14 years has had its worries and concerns, said Brenner, but many of those who knew her never knew this because she was always happy, friendly and put her heart and soul into everything she did.

There were no warning signs, and she suffered no pain, he said.

"I have been assured that I could not have done anything to prevent this," he said. "This happened in her sleep. It's been a week and three hours since Jo and I spoke.

"When she went back to rest last week she said, 'Wake me at 9 (a.m.) so I can get ready for Lunch Club Wednesday,' and 'I love you.' I also told her that I loved her, too. Those were the last words that we spoke to each other."

She was his best friend, partner in life, wife, lover and everything to him, he said, but ultimately he took her off life support as was her wish.

"We made plans for our future many years ago, and decided that when the time came, each of us would make the right choice for each other when we weren't able to make that decision on our own," he said.

With family and friends at his side, he had the responsibility to make the most painful decision he ever had to make, he said. To say, "Stop!"

"At 10 a.m. (Wednesday) I ordered, according to her wishes, an order to remove here life support systems," Brenner wrote in an e-note to family and friends. "They did this and I was next to her until her last gasp for breath. She was a beautiful sight without all those tubes attached to her. She passed on at 12:20 p.m. and I told her to wait for me so we can continue our love affair later."

Their life together

Jo Brenner was a former Highlands County school teacher, teaching at Lake Placid High School and retiring from Woodlawn Elementary School. She taught for 36 years; 26 of those years in Highlands County.

"We actually did meet through the schools," said Gene Brenner, who taught school himself before they both retired 11 years ago. "It was at a teachers' self-enhancing education workshop. We would see each other every year at the start of school..."

She became divorced. He had been separated. He suggested they meet.

"She said, 'Come on down and we'll talk' and we never stopped talking after that," said Brenner, fondly recalling the memory. "We got together and we were inseparable. We did everything together - laughed and cried. She became my soul mate."

Jo Brenner was the president of the Heartland Cultural Alliance. Its members include masters of theater and stagecraft, museums, celebrated writers, cultural and concert promoters, percussion artists, and many more, according to its Web site.

Mourning begins

"She was one of the most delightful people I've ever known," said Pete Pollard, who has known the couple for many years. "She could light up a room. She was very much involved in art and culture in Highlands County."

"It's one of the saddest times I've personally gone through," said Robin Hinote, who was at the hospital Wednesday with Gene Brenner's son Mason. "She was so very welcoming. She welcomed me and my children into her home. She was definitely a light in the community."

She was always known for motoring around in her lavender 1970 Volkswagen bug. It sat quietly Thursday where it had been parked in Brenner's garage.

The Brenner home is filled with warm touches as might be expected by people involved in the arts. She had a special affection for giraffes and their home is filled with giraffe statues, photos, paintings, glass works, puppets, even a giraffe chair.

"She loved (giraffes)," said Brenner. "They were so striking and she envied their beauty and tallness because she was so short. She was a five-foot dynamo; full of life. She enjoyed everything she did, attending movies, plays, theater. She was involved at SFCC in the artist series. We always sponsored one of its performances."

She loved to cook, said Brenner.

"She always used to say, I'll have dinner on the table in 27 minutes," he said. "I can't cook. Jo would say, 'It's your night to cook,' and I'd say, 'OK where do you want to go out to eat.'"

Jo Brenner was a regular attendee of the Lunch Club Wednesday, at the Elks Club, was active in a retired teachers' organization and was on the board of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Avon Park.

She is survived by her son Billy Webber, daughters Rennae Webber and RJ Driggers, as well as her stepson Mason Brenner and stepdaughter Mica Jablonowski and nine grandchildren and sister Linda Palmieri, in Ohio.

A visitation will be held at the Morris Funeral Chapel, at 307 S. Commerce Ave., in Sebring. The time and day will be announced.

Following a ceremony, she will ultimately be cremated and her ashes buried at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, of which she was a member.

Highlands Today reporter Joe Seelig can be reached at 863-386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com

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