At nearly 100, Huntington dispatcher shows no signs of slowing down

Every Monday from 3 to 7 p.m., Mary Brenner settles in for her shift as a dispatcher for the Huntington Community First Aid Squad. Brenner sends ambulance crews to emergencies with a calm efficiency needed for high-pressure positions, squad officials said.

She has volunteered with the ambulance company since December 1977, serving on committees for funeral and parade protocols, uniforms and public relations, to name a few.

“I enjoy it,” Brenner said Sunday, hours after marking Mother's Day with her family. “I don’t plan to retire, I’m staying until my body gives out and I can’t do it any longer.”

A Huntington resident for 64 years, Brenner passed the age when most people retire decades ago.

On Monday, she learned how much others appreciated her desire to keep working. After her shift, the 99-year-old was to be honored for her years of service and her 100th birthday on Wednesday. At their monthly meeting, the squad planned to honor Brenner with proclamations, praise and a cake.

Squad chief dispatcher Melissa Anastos said Brenner is often the only dispatcher on duty on a Monday, which is the squad’s busiest day.

“It’s a high-pressure position,” Anastos said. “But she is the epitome of calm. You hear her on the radio, she never ever gets flustered.”

The Town of Huntington had recognized Brenner on May 7 with a proclamation for her years of service and for her milestone birthday Wednesday.

Brenner received a standing ovation at the town meeting as she was surrounded by her son, Mark, 65, a former chief and current member of the squad, and her grandchildren Jeffrey Brenner, 37, and Pamela Brenner-Davis, 39, who also volunteers with the squad.

Mary Brenner and public service have a long history. During World War II, she voluntarily left her secretarial job at Sperry Gyroscope, the navigation equipment manufacturer, to work as a machinist. Brenner said she took  the midnight shift because “those shifts were the hardest to fill.” She said the job also served as her way of helping the war effort more directly.

Brenner eventually left Sperry Gyroscope to be a stay-at-home mother.

Still, she dedicated herself to other volunteer causes including at her church, St. Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church in Huntington Station, and for her children's PTA. She volunteered at a thrift shop until the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brenner maintained her emergency medical technician certification until she turned 70, the same year she stopped serving as a crew leader on emergency calls.

At the town hall event earlier this month, Supervisor Ed Smyth said that of the many remarkable things to say about Brenner, her work ethic was high on the list.

 “It's what community service is all about,” Smyth said, “and she truly is an incredible human being.”