Open house to honor longtime Brandon resident

Helen Mulrennan Young will celebrate her 88th birthday Sunday with family and friends.

She was the eighth child of Joseph and May Mulrennan of Valrico. She attended Brandon School, which was the only school in the area at the time, from first through 12th grade.

Clarinet was her instrument of choice when she played in the school's first band, which was directed by Sarah Tyler Webb. Young graduated in 1942.

She married Harold Powell, and their son Jim was born in 1947.

Jim graduated from Brandon High School in 1965. He worked in Mulrennan Groves, which was owned by his family, and spent 26 years in the Air Force.

Part of the family's pioneer farm was sold in the early 2000s to the Hillsborough County School Board. Mulrennan Middle School sits on the property now.

Young said the sale was a fitting legacy to her parents, who were deeply involved in school when she was growing up.

Jim Powell, his wife, Jo, and his mother are active members of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon, of which his mother's brother, the late Martin Michael "Bud" Mulrennan, was a charter member.

"Helen has quite a wonderful history in Brandon and is our Sunshine Committee director at Kiwanis," said Gena Schaffer, president of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon.

Young, now a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church, was a member of First Baptist Church of Brandon and Bell Shoals Baptist Church.

For 18 years during the 1950s and 60s, she waited tables at the Harris Restaurant in Brandon, which belonged to Durward "Dud" and Pauline Harris.

Young and Powell were divorced in the 1970s, after which she married Elwood Young.

The new couple relocated to North Miami Beach, where she lived 25 years before returning to the greater Brandon area after her husband entered a nursing home.

She and her son and his wife, Jo, live together in Valrico, where her son retired after his time in the service.

Young said she loves to crochet. Her ministry at Cornerstone Baptist Church is crocheting afghans for newlyweds and newborns. At Christmas, she crochets cross bookmarks for children in the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon's Head Start Reading Program. She also crochets hats for cancer patients.

Jim Powell invites family and friends to celebrate his mother's birthday with her from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at their home, 2008 Capri Road, Valrico.

For information, contact Powell at (813) 685-7411 or jpowell229@verizon.net.