Alexandra Taylor Brenner passed away on July 10, losing a long, hard-fought battle with addiction. She was born in New York City on May 14, 1987, and was raised in New Rochelle, moving to Great Barrington with her family in 2003. As a child, Allie was known to collect all manner of wildlife — frogs, snakes, birds, turtles, mice — to keep as pets, and she maintained a love of animals all her life.
Allie briefly attended Berkshire Community College, but she was, at heart, a worker. She excelled in the tile trade and made jewelry as a hobby and side business—both skills where her obsessive tendencies were an asset. She insisted on perfection and was rightly proud of her work. Allie started her own tile company in a heavily male-dominated field and quickly earned the respect of her clients and male co-workers.
Allie’s struggles with addiction started in her late teens. Over the next 16 years, she went through several periods of recovery and relapse and had remarkable insight into her own addiction. She eloquently spoke about these experiences for a series of interviews she initiated, in which she took on the pseudonym “Sara.”
Allie was fiercely strong, fiercely loyal, and fiercely hard-working. The loving family she leaves behind includes her mother, Marianne Pavone of Lenox; her father, Jay Brenner of Sheffield; brother, Eric; as well as a large community of extended family and friends who will all miss and mourn her. Allie recently shared this quote:
“There are two ways of spreading light; be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
The public is invited to celebrate the candle that was Allie’s life this Sunday, July 23 from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Egremont Barn. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her name to the Berkshire Humane Society.
