Brennan, who headed the Postal Service from November 2014 to February 2020, was the 74th postmaster general of an agency that began in 1775 — the year before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
At the insistence of her father, postal worker Jeremiah “Jerry” Brennan, she took the employment test and started as a letter carrier in Lancaster fresh out of Immaculata College in Chester County.
She rose through the ranks, including a stint at the Gus Yatron Post Office in Reading, to vice president and chief operations officer before being named postmaster general. She worked for the Postal Service for 34 years.
The audience erupted in applause at the mention that Brennan was the first woman postmaster general and, she predicted, not the last.
“I came from the work floor,” she said. “It sent a message that the Postal Service grows its leaders.”