DAMIEN MOSE BRENNAN - DANIELS

In 1989 Mary Daniels, with her 12 month old daughter, and partner of 3 years, Stan Brennan, lived in Portland, Oregon. On May 23, 1989, Mary, by herself in an ambulance, went to the OHSU hospital up on the hill, while Stan stayed home with Annette. It was extra memorable because the hospital was in the middle of construction. On a gurney, they wheeled her through a plastic tarp covered hallway, Mary thought to herself, this is the kind of scene from horror movies. But after arriving at her small labor and delivery room, Damien Mose Daniels Brennan was born that afternoon within an hour of arriving at the hospital. Mary's father John Daniels helped choose his name Damien, and his father Stan chose his middle name after his brother Mose Pierre. Damien loved knowing where his name originated. Eventually Mary and Stan parted ways, she and the kids spent the next few years living between Warm Springs, with their maternal grandmother Patricia Brown and Portland, Oregon.

In 1991 Mary's father introduced her to Frank "Sonny" Brown. They all moved to Plummer, Idaho. In 1994 Damien was promoted to big brother. Annette and Damien were very excited the entire pregnancy. But a little before Baby Brother was to debut, Damien got chickenpox. He was bummed about it but understood that out of precaution he and Annette would go to heal up with Grandpa John, while they welcomed little brother Jake Brown. By 1995 Mary and Sonny married. In the summer of 1997 the family was on their way to go fishing in Worley, Id. They were rear ended by another car on the highway. Damien was life flighted to Sacred Heart Hospital, he had sustained a severe head injury, but made a full recovery. The family still had a bright side that summer as they welcomed their new baby sister Sonja Brown. In 2014 our youngest brother Bernard was born. Damien loved being a brother; whether he was 4 years old chasing his "lil-big sister" Annette to tackle her off the school bus everyday, or allowing baby Jake to pull his hair while also pretending his walker was a race car as he pushed it around the house, to dressing up for funny videos to make with Sonja and Bernard.

Damien was a high energy, rambunctious 90's child, who loved to climb and explore anything. Mimicking moves from his favorite movies; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, or The 3 Ninjas, who Mary affectionately nicknamed him after TumTum for his love of food. One day at Grandma Anne's house, he was "ninja jumping" from couch to coffee table and fell, splitting his upper ear. Damien had a high pain tolerance and was able to have his ear stitched by Grandpa John. Something him and grandpa were proud to brag about. He also had the biggest love of dogs. It was almost everyday he would come home when the streetlights came on, to immediately need to bathe the smell of multiple befriended neighborhood dogs off of him. He had the biggest smile with a laid back personality, and made friends easily. By middle school his adventures started off at Grandpa John's in Plummer Housing and usually included his siblings and/or best friend Kyle Campbell. They loved cooking, making videos, movies, playing video games, biking the backroads and exploring all around the Coeur D'Alene Reservation. Annette, the little mom, was always yelling at him to be careful, but was never surprised at the new injuries he'd acquired. He had passion in everything he did, and you'd usually hear about it if you wanted to debate a topic. Even playing video games were often lively and heated, especially with Jake and Bernard. Mary would yell for them to calm down, but it always ended in laughs. With all of his interests the one he was most renowned for was his intelligence and love of books.

Everyone knew Damien was a very intelligent kid; he could read books, recite quotes and verses from whatever book he read. In Middle School, the librarian had to buy more books on Egyptology because he read all they had available. He was always within reach of a new book. Most kids could get lost in a toy store with wide eyed giddiness, Damien was giddy eyed in bookstores. They were his toy land. When he was about 6 years old he was given a Garfield book written all in cursive. He had asked his step-dad Sonny to teach him to read cursive, and mastered it in no time. Damien attended Plummer/Worley school district in Plummer, Idaho. He was proud of his intelligence and capabilities, and many shared their compliments of him. However going through school began to get difficult for him as he got older. He tried his best to work with teachers, he read ahead of class but found himself struggling to hold an interest in the school curriculum. Trying to keep up with his intelligence and keep him stimulated was difficult because he was so quick to master topics, soon Mary thought he would be schooling himself. Even into his adulthood, he never lost the love reading and learning to master new topics. Damien's biggest accomplishment, he would strive his hardest for, came later in life.

It was April 5th 2015 when Damien and Kristin became more than just good friends. She remembers being so nervous wondering when he was gonna show up, then she saw his silhouette and her heart went flying! After that day, they were together every day after that!

From the very beginning, they knew they had each other’s backs, no matter how difficult the situation was they were facing. For four long years they tried to have kids, and just when they thought it wasn’t going to happen…BOOM, surprise here’s Kimmy! Oh, what a day when she decided to make her grand entrance! It was during the middle of Winter Storm Maya (that’s also why Damien gave her the middle name Maya) when he drove from Tekoa to Plummer where they had to call for an ambulance because the storm was so bad. He did all this in an old Subaru car that had no snow tires and was built low to the ground! He always bragged around about that too. Within minutes of getting to the hospital Kimmy was born. Damien described her birth as flying out so fast the doctor missed and Kimmy hit the bed before she was caught! Oh he was such a proud father! Kristin didn’t even get to hold her for at least 20, if not, 30 minutes because he held on to her rocking and talking to her. Yvette’s birth wasn’t quite as dramatic, but Kristin had to stay in the hospital longer. During that time Damien took on the full-time parenting role with Kimmy, taking her to all kinds of different new parks in Coeur d’ Alene. Even though they were now on baby number two he was still what Kristin fondly called him Smother D! The reason She called him this is because he would count their breaths while they slept and would randomly take temperatures throughout the night too. But what really sealed his Smother D nickname was when he called the ambulance for Kimmy in Tekoa! Oh Kristin was so mad at him because she was so tired and the ambulance workers said that even though they knew Kimmy was fine they still had to go to the hospital because of how young she was…yeah it was the middle of the night! She don’t know many protective dads that have done that.

Damien Mose Daniels Brennan was a member of the Coeur D'Alene Tribe. In his childhood he attended Plummer Bible Church. He was a lifelong student, loyal husband, and father. Damien passed away on Friday, August 18, 2023. He is preceded in death by his birth father, Stanley Brennan, maternal grandparents John Daniels, Patricia Johns-Brown & Leila Martin-Daniels; his maternal great-grandparents George Watkins (Daniels), Mary Genevieve Whistocken, Irene Antelope & James Martin, Sr.; maternal great-great grandparents Barney Watkins (Daniels), Annie Redbone, John Ignace Whistocken, Anastasia Anasta, Mary Agatha George (Antelope) & Morris Antelope.

He leaves behind his mother Mary Daniels, father Frank Brown, sisters Annette Daniels (Mike Thomas), Sonja Brown (River Spottedhorse), brothers Jake Brown (Hope Baldwin), Bernard Brown, wife Kristin Cofffey and two beautiful children Kimmy & Yvette Daniels, numerous nieces & nephews, & cousins.

"I wish you more than luck, I wish you enough."- Damien Daniels

These words were shared over a social media post that read…

 "I hope beautiful things happen to you and when they do, I hope you can believe you are worthy of every single one of them." -Unknown.

Damien will live in our hearts forever, and will be greatly missed by many. May he rest forever in peace.

Kramer Funeral Home, Tekoa - Palouse, WA is caring for the family. On line condolences may be left at www.kramercares.com

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