Notes for John Edward O'Brien: John E. O'Brien was better known as "Jack". Upon the death of his father in 1916 (he was 28 at the time) he became the male head of the house. He was one of the principal sources of income for the family, which at the time consisted of his widowed mother and his 9 siblings (3 girls and 6 boys) After graduation from Belmont HS, c1906, he went to work as a stock clerk in a Pharmaceutical House in Boston. It was named Rexall Drug Co. He worked for this company for the next 55 years. About 1917 he had the opportunity to move with the company to Chicago, when it merged with United Drug, Co. He subsequently moved to St. Louis where he lived until his wife died (1965) and he became incapacitated due to Strokes. His brother, Hugh, had him moved to a Nursing Home in Lexington, MA where he was looked after by his remaining siblings (Mary, Hugh and Katherine), until his death in December 1966. An interesting note here is that his death was not conveyed to Austin, Jr., as he was in The South China Seas on board the USS FD Roosevelt conducting combat flight operations against the North Vietnamese. The serviving family felt it would be inappropriate to notify him. Jack O'Brien was a small man who bought his clothes in the boys department of clothing stores because of fitting difficulties. When he became more successful they were tailor made for him. He met Antoinette, ("Anna", "Ann") Wagner through his work for the Drug, Co where she was a secretary and helpful to him in his work. She was 7 years his senior. They never had any children. When they married (1922) both were mature (She was 41, he was 34) the plans for a family were apparently passe. Also, he was still sending money home to his mother for support of the family; Mother, Celia, was a widow, Katherine was in college, Hugh was in college and Mary was working as a secretary. Joe was running the Taxi Business, Maude was assisting him, Austin was also assisting, William was in the Army in Hawaii, Fred was working and also still at home. Thus the family survived. Jack was a smoker, enjoyed a glass of Whiskey, golfer and photography enthusiast. He was very competent at everything he undertook and his photography hobby encluded the ability to develope, print and enlarge his photos. In fact, a room in his home in Clayton, MO., was his Photo Lab. Because of this, Ann and Austin, Jr., on their way to California in 1957, slept in a portabed when they stopped to visit them. Jack and Maurice (aka Maude) were the most gregarious of all the clan. Both had the personality and gift of gab to fit in any where. He was an ardent Democrat and firmly believed that they were the best party to run the government. This put him at odds with his Belmont siblings, but the difference of views never caused any breach in the family ties. He was a wise investor and at the time of his death had acquired a reasonably large portfolio. This was passed to his Belmont siblings upon his death. He is buried in the family plot in Belmont Cemetary. He lived 78 yrs 5 mos 26 das.
More About John Edward O'Brien: Burial: 23 December 1966, Belmont Cemetary, Belmont, MA.
More About John Edward O'Brien and Antoinette (Anna) Wagner: Marriage: 15 January 1922, Chicago, IL.
John Edward O'Brien (b. 24 June 1888, d. 20 December 1966)
Notes for John Edward O'Brien: