A. Drennan Obituary (2021) – Abilene Reporter-News

A. Donald “Don” Drennan

Abilene – Don Drennan, longtime Abilene Christian University administrator, Abilene Metropolis Council member and neighborhood servant, died Feb. 4, in Abilene, right after an extended illness. He was 85.

Providers honoring his lifetime are planned Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Beauchamp Amphitheatre on the Abilene Christian College campus. A visitation with family members will be Saturday from 5-7 p.m. at Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut. The loved ones requests that company put on masks and notice social distancing out of regard for other folks in attendance.

Born Altie Donald Drennan on Oct. 10, 1935, to A.O. and Grace Hunt Drennan, he was identified as Don to his quite a few buddies, but always Donald to his mom and his wife, Rudith. He liked telling folks he was born at West Texas Baptist Sanitarium, the precursor to Hendrick Healthcare Center.

A 1954 graduate of Abilene Large College, he was a member of the past course to attend school on the original North Initial Avenue campus. Immediately after earning his bachelor’s degree from ACU in 1958, he worked briefly in Midland for Shell Oil Co. before returning in 1960 as getting director at the university.

Drennan’s provider to ACU and to Abilene was broad and deep, always focused on what he imagined was suitable and treating everybody the very same no matter of title.

He grew to become the college small business supervisor in 1969, and finished a master’s diploma while working fulltime. In 1972 he grew to become assistant to the president for Dr. John C. Stevens, forging a friendship that described his part there. Commencing in 1982 he served six many years as affiliate professor of accounting. Even just after getting athletic director in 1988, he continued to teach 1 freshman introductory company class every semester.

A January blind day organized by Dusty and Nancy Rhodes, with an El Paso college teacher, Rudith Frazier, led to their wedding ceremony, Aug. 5, 1977. The pair acquired the Rafter T Ranch in Chimney Rock, Colo., in 1982 and used summers and vacations there with their young children, finally relocating there for two years immediately after Drennan’s first retirement in 1990.

Although he beloved bailing hay, the horses and Longhorn cattle on the ranch, Drennan skipped teaching and so they returned to ACU in which he informed a student reporter for The Optimist, “I train for exciting. I am going to only settle for $1 as payment for each individual class I instruct.”

In 2000 he retired again to commit far more time in aid of numerous Christian companies he and Rudith encouraged as a result of the Frazier Foundation, which he served as treasurer. He was an ACU trustee from 1991-2010, like numerous a long time as board secretary.

In Abilene, Drennan was energetic with the Abilene Chamber of Commerce. He served on boards of administrators for United Way, Abilene Christian Universities, Purple Cross, Abilene Larger Schooling Authority, Huge Brothers Large Sisters, Disability Means, Inc. and as a longtime member of Abilene Rotary Club.

As a Metropolis Council member from 1994-97, Drennan focused, as always, on what men and women essential. When the council considered discontinuing town bus services, he went and rode the busses himself and concluded they could not be shut simply because he observed the individuals who wanted them to get to work. When the proposal was debated, he requested a different council member who advocated for the closures, “When was the last time you rode a bus?”

Soon after his retirement from ACU in 2000, Don appeared for means to go away the environment a much better position, so he and Rudith invested several school several years in Parkersburg, W.Va., property of Ohio Valley University, a small Christian university serving Appalachia. There he taught accounting and administered a grant for design of a new science creating that was named in his honor. They returned to Abilene in 2007 where he remained lively with the Frazier Basis, and at Highland Church of Christ where he has been a deacon, chair of the missions committee and an adult Bible class trainer.

He is survived by his wife Rudith, and by 4 children: James Donald Drennan and his spouse Shelley of Abilene D’Ann McAlister and her husband Stuart of Franklin Daniel Drennan and his spouse Amber of Abilene and April Drennan and her husband Beau Minkler of Colorado Springs. He is also survived by his sister Deanna Baker of Lubbock, by nine grandchildren and two fantastic grandchildren: Cody, Garrett and Dakota Drennan, Cameron and Evan McAlister, Kendrick and Sage Drennan, Gage Jones and Nora Mitchen, and terrific grandchildren Adler and Alice Drennan.

In lieu of bouquets, the relatives requests all those wishing to honor Don’s life do so through memorials to the A. Don Drennan Enterprise Endowed Scholarship (ACU Box 29132, Abilene, Texas 79699-9132, little bit.ly/ADonDrennan) Condolences may be available to the family on the web at www.pbfuneraldirectors.com.