EDMONTON – Donna Bagdan has been poring over pictures of her son, Brennan, as she gets ready for his memorial service. The 40-year-old was killed by a suspected impaired driver early Friday morning.
He and his wife were returning home from celebrating the second anniversary of their first date, when their southbound vehicle was T-boned on 109th Street, by a vehicle speeding the wrong way down 83rd Avenue.
Brennan’s mother was awakened by a call from the Royal Alex hospital around 2 a.m. She was told her daughter-in-law, Tracy, was in the hospital, and to come right away.
While driving there, Donna says she kept wondering where her son was.
An officer at the hospital confirmed her worst fears, telling her and her daughter-in-law – who only remembered their vehicle behind T-boned – that Brennan was dead.
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“Tracy just screamed, she was just screaming; cause they’d only been married a year and a half,” Donna said.
The two married just six months after their first date. Donna said Tracy “was just so perfect, he just decided he had to marry her.”
“He was so sweet, just look at his sweet picture,” his mom said proudly, holding up a wedding photo of the two. “Just a really lovely boy, very intelligent – he has two degrees from university and, you know, very smart. And it ends up like this – the prime of his life and he’s gone, you know. It’s just really sad.”
Brennan was a man of many talents, according to his mom. She thought his culinary skills were especially impressive.
“He was so unique, he even made his own wedding dinner – he made Beef Wellington…he insisted on cooking for us all.”
Her son’s creativity also showed in his work as an industrial designer, who also bartended at The Marc.
The thought of losing him to an alleged drunk driver is particularly difficult for his mother. She says her son took great pride in being a responsible driver, and was always conscious of the amount he had to drink before getting behind the wheel.
“We all know not to go behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking too much. The campaigns are phenomenal all the time, we’re warned constantly,” she said, her voice filled with disbelief.
Tyhler Kennedy Keith, 21, is facing several impaired and dangerous driving charges in connection with the crash.
“I’m disappointed, you know, it ruins my life in many ways,” Donna said tearfully. “I’m sorry, its really hard to talk about it and think that there’s going to be that void there.”
The grieving mother is currently focusing her energies on planning her son’s service, and supporting her daughter-in-law, whose parents have flown in from Newfoundland.
The family hopes others will learn from their tragedy, and not drink and drive.
With files from Quinn Ohler, Global News
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