Djohariah's Legacy: Nalaina's College Fundraiser

Djohariah's last wish was that in lieu of flowers, friends and family would donate to help Nalaina go to college. Please join us in supporting her wish.

Thank you,

John, Nalaina, and Rita (sister)

FaceBook posting:

Ms. Djohariah “Dj / Djoh” Singer, 55, last an educator in Washington County, Maryland for 18+ years died on August 11, 2025, at 10:15 PM quietly at home after 6 years dancing with stage 4 ovarian and peritoneal cancer. Born in Japan in 1969 and then moving to Hyattsville, MD when she was 10 years old, she went to University Park Elementary School, Hyattsville Middle School, Regina High School, and then graduated from Northwestern High School. After playing in Europe with Teams USA Soccer Team the summer of 1987, she attended Springfield College in Massachusetts where she majored first in Physical Education, then Art (spending a semester abroad in Florence, Italy studying Art and Italian), and then graduation with a Bachelor of Science, a double major in Art and Psychology with a concentration in Counseling, ART THERAPY.

After graduating, she hopped into her 1978 F100 pick up truck and traveled cross-country with her 13-year-old sister, Rita, looking for her biological father who left the family when she was 11 years old. She traveled nearly all the states camping out in state and national parks for 2.5 months. She eventually found her father and reconnected with him. Waiting to be hired by Peace Corps, she moved to Germany for a few months to stay with some friends she met on her X-country trip. Djohariah was called up to Peace Corps and served in Villa Montes, and Tarija, Bolivia. Upon coming back to the USA, Djohariah began to work as a case manager in social work with homeless adolescents in Washington, DC, and moved out to Los Angeles to be a case manager with Covenant House, California in Hollywood.

Eventually transitioning to parks and recreation departments, she continued to work with adolescents and families in a few different cities as a Community Center Coordinator and eventually the Director. She spent several years coaching soccer for local soccer teams. She then became a California State Park Ranger / Police Officer with the California State Parks attending a 6-mo. paramilitary academy and becoming the first woman voted president of her class (the 149th) in the history of the academy. Djohariah met and married Nalaina’s father with whom she worked in 2003 when they moved back to Maryland. At that time, Djohariah changed careers again and became an educator by getting her master’s degree, first hired in Salisbury, and then in Hagerstown, Maryland. She first taught high school Spanish and Art, then middle school, and then finished her careers in elementary school teaching Art.

Djohariah’s life, however, really began when she became a mother to Nalaina in March 2008, the greatest gift of her life. Teaching afforded Djohariah all scheduled holidays, winter weather days, and after-school hours to be with Nalaina. She also served as her Girl Scout Troop Leader for 5 years.

Djohariah divorced Nalaina’s father when Nalaina was 6 and then remarried in 2020 to the love of her life, John “Conrad” Brennan. Djohariah’s last years were her best years, being able to spend as much time with Nalaina and John having had to retire from teaching due to needing to dance full-time with her cancer and weathering the constant treatments. Family trips to New York, California, Georgia, Florida, Japan, Italy, Sicily, Germany, and Iceland, dotted the landscapes as Djohariah checked of items on her bucket list one at a time.

Always one to step up and volunteer, Djohariah volunteered for years as negotiating member of Washington County Teacher’s Association, served as the Union Representative in her buildings, volunteered as the Chair for the Frederick Outdoor Discovery School (a grassroots initiative by Frederick residents), co-founded Middletown United against racism in our community, and was a member of the Education subcommittee of the NAACP.

As her strength diminished, however, she still found a way to advocate for others with OCRA.org, by way of serving as a mentor with W2W, Women-2-Women for several other women diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, and by serving on a panel of STS, (cancer) Survivors Teaching (medical) Students at Georgetown University and John’s Hopkins about the need for proper and early detection to be developed for this insidiously aggressive disease.

Djohariah is survived by her loving husband, John Brennan, and her cherished daughter, Nalaina.

In lieu of flowers, or other gifts, to show your love and support, Djohariah has requested that you donate to a Go Fund Me that will support Nalaina going to college.