JoMae Brenneke

JoMae Bowcut Brenneke passed away January 22, 2026, in Spanish Fork, Utah. She was born August 14, 1946, in Salem, Oregon to Melvin Carl and Ruth Hardy Bowcut.

In Salem the family lived on a rural horse farm for a few years but then moved back to town. JoMae graduated from North Salem High School in 1963. After graduation she went to Brigham Young University and spent a year there but broke her back in a snowtubing accident and went home to recover. Later she went to live with an uncle’s family in Las Vegas and ultimately returned to Salt Lake City. She had many struggles and difficult events during the time period after her accident.

In Salt Lake City while working at a construction company as an accountant and office manager, she met Warren Brenneke. They married December 31, 1981, and were sealed in the Provo Temple July 8, 1989. They had no children together but loved traveling and both became gourmet cooks.

JoMae very much wanted more schooling and so she attended the University of Utah majoring in anthropology and working in an anthropology museum. However, she wanted to be a computer programmer and felt the U of U did not have an adequate program, so simultaneously enrolled at a community college in the afternoons. She ultimately graduated with a BS from the U of U and a 2-year computer degree from the community college in the same week.

JoMae was hired in the Brigham Young University Continuing Education department as their head computer specialist. This eventually meant that she also went to the BYU in Hawaii five different times to train their computer managers and also once to Nauvoo, Illinois to set up the church’s computer program at the visitors center there. Ultimately JoMae’s worsening physical condition required that she be in a wheelchair and finally she had to retire a couple of years early.

While she was working at BYU, JoMae’s parents were aging so they invited JoMae and Warren to live in the main part of their 4-level Provo, Utah home and her folks moved into the mother-in-law apartment level. Over the years JoMae’s mother died, Warren died, and her father died, so she rented out rooms to various young women and ultimately to a young couple to whom she became very attached.

However, JoMae’s condition continued deteriorating and resulted in her needing to sell the home and move to Legacy Assisted Living in Spanish Fork where she lived for three years until her passing.

JoMae is survived by her sister, Elna Bowcut (Gordon Kay) Jensen.

JoMae will be laid to rest in the Oakley Cemetery, Oakley, Idaho. Condolences may be extended at www.bergmortuary.com.