Mary Ellen O’Brien (nee Mannion) was born on October 19th, 1921 in Rosmuc, County Galway, Ireland. Rosmuc being in the Gaeltacht, Mary was a native Irish speaker. Nicknamed “Maisie”, she was the first of four children. Her mother died while she was still a young girl forcing her to work as a teenager at the Imperial Hotel in Galway City. At the height of World War II she moved to Birmingham, England. There she worked in a munitions factory during the Blitz. In the war, many of her Irish girlfriends were killed by the bombing.
Towards the war’s end she married Robert F. O’Brien, from Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland. They lived in Southampton, England before moving back to Robert’s home town in Ireland.
In 1954 she and her daughter, Theresa, emigrated to the United States on the RMS Franconia from Cobh, County Cork to New York City.
Settling in Jersey City, N.J. with her husband Robert, she went on to raise six more children. Maisie made many friends and connections in Jersey City through her work at Koss Restaurant on Journal Square, The Glenwood on West Side Avenue and The Neptune Restaurant. A parishioner of Saint Aedan’s RC church for most of her life she was active in the Rosary Society and the Third Order of Saint Francis. In her later years she belonged to the parish of Saint John the Baptist RC Church.
For the last several years she has resided with her daughter, Theresa, in Jersey City and more recently in Salem, Massachusetts. There she became a member of Saint Anne’s parish.
Mary is predeceased by her husband, Robert Francis, and her grandson, Port Authority Police Officer, Eamonn Matthew Mautone.
Mary is survived by her children, Theresa O’Brien of Salem, MA., Michael O’Brien of Longwood, FL., Susan O’Brien Parks of Newburgh, NY., Bridget O’Brien Mautone of Jackson, NJ., Kathleen O’Brien Feinberg of Millersville, MD., Robert Joseph O’Brien of Tokyo, Japan, and Rita Ann O’Brien of San Diego, CA.
Mary’s surviving grandchildren are, Terence O’Brien, Bridget O’Brien, Robert O’Brien, 1st Lt. Sean Mautone, Ranger, US Army, Brendan Mautone, Dr. Conor Parks, Kathleen Parks, Kathleen Feinberg, Coleman Feinberg, Rita Kaneko O’Brien, Susan Kaneko O’Brien, and Mary Kaneko O’Brien.
She is also survived by 3 great grand-children, many cousins and extended family in America, Europe and Asia.
Services will be at Levesque Funeral Home in Salem, MA on Monday August 6thfrom 4 to 7 pm and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Jersey City, NJ on Tuesday August 7thfrom 4 to 7 pm. Funeral Mass shall be from Saint John the Baptist RC church at 10 am on Wednesday August 8th. Interment at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Caldwell, NJ. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Saint Vincent De Paul Society, http://svdpusa.plannedgiving.org/svdpusa/giving/5.html