Nellie Brennan, a well-known and much-loved Riverside resident, was killed Thursday, Aug. 22 when she was struck by an Amtrak train. Riverside police have ruled her death as an accident.
Brennan, 93, was traveling on foot that afternoon when the train struck her near the railroad crossing on Cowley Road, said Riverside Public Safety Director Matthew Buckley in a phone call Monday.
According to a press release, provided by Buckley to the Landmark, Riverside police and fire officers were dispatched around 2:39 p.m. to the railroad crossing on Delaplaine Road on a report of a pedestrian struck by a train before they located Brennan at the Cowley Road crossing, where the train had stopped. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Police said the initial investigation into Brennan’s death showed she was struck accidentally.
Rail traffic was suspended from when public safety personnel arrived at the scene until about 5 p.m. Thursday.
Brennan was known in the Riverside and North Riverside communities. A Rock Island native, she became a registered nurse in 1952 and moved to the Chicagoland area in 1970 to work at Hines V.A. Hospital in Maywood. She later worked at Northwestern University Medical Center and as an instructor in Triton College’s nursing program.
In 2010, the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago recognized Brennan for 55 years of volunteer service, during which time she responded to disasters across the country, including Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and others. She still worked as a volunteer when the Red Cross recognized her.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Brennan celebrated her 50th year serving as an election judge in Riverside.
Throughout her life, Brennan dedicated herself to caring for others.
“If you feel like helping people,” she told the Landmark in 2010, “… no matter what, do it anyway. If each one of us helps just one person in need or in crisis, wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place?”
Correction, Oct. 10, 12:20 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misstated what kind of train struck Brennan. It was an Amtrak train. The Landmark apologizes for the error.
