Name/Title
photographEntry/Object ID
2022.1.15Description
Mary Jane O'Brien
Brien wrote in email: She is noted for having been Bedford's postmistress for 29 years, and is especially known for biking all over the Bedford area to deliver urgent messages. She passed before I was born, but a favorite anecdote of her younger sister Tess (Teresa O'Brien) was that when guests had lingered at the O'Brien's at a late hour, Mary would end the evening by proclaiming, "Time to go to bed and let the folks go home." Tess thought that announcement was entirely inappropriate and absolutely hilarious. When Mary passed, Harry Banks and John Kinkel (according to my dad) organized the businesses of Bedford to close on the day of Mary's funeral. Apparently Albert Trella (proprietor of Trella's) declined to close, which cooled relations between the O'Briens and the Trellas for years. However, after Tess had had a major stroke and needed long term care, Albert's sister, whose name I do not recall, was among those who took care of Tess.