Brother Martin O'Brien FSC (John O'Brien) died on September 18, 2008. He was born in Providence, RI on March 20, 1920 and died in his eighty-eight year.
John was a member of the US Army and took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy beach on 7 June 1944. After the conclusion of WW II, he attended Providence College and received a BS degree in Education in 1949. That same year he entered the novitiate of the Christian Brothers in Barrytown, NY and received the name Brother Martin.
Brother Martin received an MA in Counseling from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC in 1952. He earned a second Master's degree in Theology from Manhattan College, Bronx, NY in 1969.
He began his teaching career in 1954 at St Bernard's in NYC. He later taught scholastic Brothers Philosophy of Education at De La Salle College in Washington, DC during summers. He also taught at De La Salle Collegiate HS in Detroit and La Salle Military Academy, Oakdale, NY.
From 1969 to 1978, Brother Martin served as Assistant Director for Religious Education for the Diocese of Norwich.. He held numerous other positions: Chairman of the Religion Dept at St Bernard's HS in Uncasville, CT, Associate Director of the Deaconate Program in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Director of the Deconate program for the Diocese of Norwich, and lastly, Parish Director of Religious Education at St Joseph's Church in Hope Valley, RI.
He retired in 2000 at Christian Brothers Center, Narragansett, RI and later moved to Blessed Scalabrini Residence, North Kingstown, RI. Over the span of 30 years, he collected oral histories from Brothers in the Long Island - New England District and edited and printed them..
His Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept 22 at Our Lady of the Star Chapel of the Christian Brothers Center. He is buried in the Brothers' cemetery in Narragansett, RI.
May he rest in eternal peace.
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