"Craig was always smiling. It radiated throughout the hallways of the schools he attended. I knew Craig but not well and I wish I could have known him better. I think about you often, Craig. I wish I could talk to you again. Heaven is a better place with you in it."
In loving memory of
Craig Michael Brenner
October 18, 2011
Craig Michael Brenner, 36, Green Bay, died Sunday, July 12, 2009. He was born on June 19, 1973 and was the son of Jerry and Luanne (Kasper) Brenner. Craig was a 1995 graduate of Syble Hopp School.
Survivors include his parents, Jerry and Luanne Brenner, Green Bay; one sister and brother-in-law, Christi and Dave Brissette, Marshfield, two nephews, Tyler and Nathan; aunts, uncles, other relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Verne and Millie Kasper and Arthur and Marian Brenner.
Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, (TODAY) at Lyndahl Funeral Home where a parish wake service will take place at 7:30 p.m. Visitation will continue after 10 a.m. Wednesday at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, 2270 South Oneida Street, Green Bay, where the Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Benjamin Sember officiating. Entombment will be at the Shrine of the Good Shepherd Mausoleum.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established for Cerebral Palsy, Aspiro and Syble Hopp School.
Craig will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him. We want to express special thanks to the wonderful staff at the Cerebral Palsy Center and there are no words to express our thanks and appreciation to Craig's caregivers at Home for Independent Living, his second family.
Welcome to Holland
"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this ...
"When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
"After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.'
"'Holland?' you say. 'What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy!' I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'
"But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
"The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
"So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
"It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.
"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say,
"'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'
"The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
"But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland."
-Emily Pearl Kingsley
Download or view the memorial video by clicking here.