Jennie (Gross) O’Brien was born in June, 1922 to James and Mary Gross, the oldest of three children. The family moved to Florida for a short time then returned to Maine and owned a farm for a time. Jennie would sometimes reminisce and tell her grandchildren that naming the farm turkeys had made one Thanksgiving dinner impossible for her and her sister to enjoy.
The family moved to Lewiston after a few years where Jennie attended Lewiston High School and sang in the Glee Club. It was during her time in high school that she met her future husband, John O’Brien. After high school Jennie attended Farmington Teacher’s College for a year before seeking employment at a mill in Lewiston as a bookkeeper to save up for her future life with John.
John graduated from the University of Maine in the Spring of 1942, an ROTC officer. They were married in 1943 and spent some time in Cambridge before John shipped off to fight in the war and Jennie worked in the Radiation Lab at MIT. John returned from the war in 1946 and they settled in Reading, MA to raise their three children: Jim, Martha and Peter.
Jennie was the epitome of a 1950s housewife. She made sure there were hot meals, clean laundry and a neat house. These were not merely chores, this was her chosen profession and she excelled at it. Her love of cooking and baking was enjoyed by the family, and also by neighbors and friends at the annual open house she and John hosted on New Year’s Day. From morning coffee with neighborhood ladies, to the League of Women Voters, the PTA and the Congregational Church, Jennie was very social and an active member of her community. She loved hooking rugs and kept a loom in the corner of the dining room where she regularly spent time working on her creations. She also loved traveling and visited Bermuda, Great Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and various locations throughout the United States.
In 1978, Jennie and John divorced and she moved to Stoneham where she worked as a coder at College Marketing until she retired in 1988. After retiring she moved to Bangor, Maine to be close to her eldest son and his family. She hosted the family for special occasion dinners, taught her grandchildren to bake and regularly imparted wisdom and life lessons.
In 2003 Jennie moved in with her youngest son and his family in Derry, NH to watch his children grow up. She remained there, cared for by her son’s family and her daughter until she passed peacefully from natural causes.
Throughout her life, Jennie enjoyed reading cookbooks and said she could taste a recipe by reading it. She also enjoyed reading histories and biographies. And Jennie was a lady, always. She dressed up whenever leaving the house because 'you never know who you might run into' at the grocery store or the bank, and she believed in gentle kindness and always acting with grace.
Jennie was predeceased by her mother and father, her sister Leone and her brother Jim, her daughter-in-law Valerie and her great grandchild Jai. She is survived by her children, Jim, Martha and Peter (+Katherine), grandchildren Cristin (+ Girish), Sean (+ Kierstin), Bjarna and August, and great grandchildren Robert, Gisèle, Aditya, Amelia and Esther.
Memorial services will be held during the summer in Maine. The Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium of Derry and Londonderry is assisting the family with arrangements.