Brenda Marie Mann

Along with her creativity and humor, her quiet and caring manner had a way of drawing people to her. Often people remarked that they knew she would be a good friend as soon as they met her. Brenda was generous and thoughtful, ready to help anyone and do her best to make others happy.

She was nurturing and patient, always providing loving support and a listening ear to her children and grandchildren. She was engaged in their interests and ready to join them in a basketball game, on a walk, or making cookies. And she loved to be outside, working in her flourishing garden or riding her bike.

Her husband, David, could always count on her to take care of the family when he was away for his work. While Brenda cared for her family, she developed her freelance art and graphic design business and volunteered for several organizations.

Brenda graduated with honors from Bethel University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and again with her graphic design degree from Indiana University. Brenda was an excellent artist, and her work graced the covers of Light and Life, Emphasis, and the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine. She also had illustrations in several publications, including the Journal-Gazette and the News Sentinel newspapers and illustrated nine children’s books. Brenda loved to paint watercolors, and her paintings could be found in art shows and galleries. Her illustration and graphic design talents also led her to spend eleven years as a page designer at Fort Wayne Newspapers.

In recent years Brenda combined her deep love of animals and her artistic talent by drawing custom pet portraits. These portraits were a comfort and joy to the pets’ owners, who would praise her uncanny ability to get the eyes “just right.”

Brenda was a volunteer for Three Rivers Visiting Dogs. She would come alive visiting patients in hospitals and nursing homes with her two dogs. And, as a hospice volunteer, she made weekly visits to the Visiting Nurse Hospice Home with her dogs and sat with people in the closing moments of their lives.

Brenda was preceded in death by her mother and father, Lloyd and Helen Frantz of Goshen, Indiana, and her son Troy Mann of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Surviving is her husband of 52 years, David Mann of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and her children, Erika Mann of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Todd Mann of Indianapolis, Indiana. Also surviving are 5 grandchildren: Taylor Mann, Dylan Mann, Connor Mann, Quinn Mann, and Claire Mann.

Visitation will be from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 29, at D.O. McComb & Sons Covington Knolls Funeral Home, 8325 Covington Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana. A memorial service will be held at Avalon Church, 1212 Lower Huntington Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Thursday, September 30 at 11 a.m. with visitation one hour prior.

Gifts in her memory can be given to Visiting Nurse of Fort Wayne, World Partners, or Three Rivers Visiting Dogs.