My Rantings and Other Non-Sensical Thoughts

I bought my mom "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" DVD last Friday night at Wal-Mart (never realizing I'd get to hand-deliver it). Well, we tried to watch it tonight & we couldn't get the captions to work. My mom is deaf as a.....well, I don't know what to compare it to. She's not Helen Keller, but close. ;) So without captions working, watching a movie is a no-go. I must have spent 30 minutes trying to figure out why it's not working. Finally I discovered that because she doesn't have a CC-able TV, captions won't work. Since the movie isn't Subtitled (which is apparently different), she's out of luck. *sigh*.

My Pop-Pop's funeral was amazing. There were 600 people who came through at the Viewing. There were 64 flower arrangements sent to the Funeral Home. I never realized how many lives he'd touched. Some flowers were sent by a few of the Women's basketball teams - UConn, Syracuse, Xavier, the Big East... that was nice. I decided that the way I would honor my Pop-Pop's Memory would be to volunteer. He volunteered for many, many things in his life and I decided that would be the best way to honor him. So I found a thing online that I'd like to do. I'm not going to mention it because I don't want to jinx it, but if it works out I'll let you know.

It's snowing here right now. I'd guess there are about 5 inches on the ground. I think the snow has pretty much stopped. While it's pretty to look at, it reminds me of why I moved to begin with. I hate cold and I hate snow. I want to be in TX where it was 55 today. Anyway.... Here's my Pop-Pop's obituary. Then you can all see what a special man he was.

Joseph G. O'Brien, 81, of West Chester, PA, died Saturday, February 19, 2005 at Chester County Hospital, West Chester.
He was born in Pottsville, PA, to the late John F. and Gertrude Kenney O'Brien.
He was a 1941 graduate of Pottsville High School and attended Georgetown University. He was a District Sales Manager with Nationwide Insurance Co. in Chester County for 30 years, retiring in 1988; and was past President of the Chester County Life Underwriters. He was a U.S. Army Veteran with the 102nd Infantry Division in the European Theatre during World War II, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge.
He was a member of St. Agnes Church, West Chester, PA. He was a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus Chester County Assembly #1873 and a 3rd Degree member of Council #1333, both of West Chester, PA; member of VFW Post #106 of West Chester, PA; life member of Disabled American Veterans; charter member and past Commander of Catholic War Veterans and life member of Good Will Fire Co., both of Pottsville, PA; past member of B.P.O. Elks Lodge #853 of West Chester, PA; and was past Master of Ceremonies for the Home & School Associations of both St. Agnes School and Bishop Shanahan High School. He also volunteered for nine years at Chester County Hospital of West Chester.
Surviving are his wife, Anne Feinauer O'Brien; sons, Thomas J. O'Brien, Joseph C. O'Brien and Michael P. O'Brien, all of West Chester, PA; daughters, Kathleen A. Derr of Harrisburg, Patti Mento of Dowingtown, PA, Muffet McGraw of South Bend, IN and Peggy Schiavonni of West Chester, PA; 16 grandchildren and 1 great-grandson. He was preceded in death by a son, John G. O'Brien.
Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 23, 2005, at St. Agnes Church, 233 W. Gay Street, West Chester, PA. Burial will be in St. Agnes Cemetery. Visitation will be from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, February 22, 2005, and from 8:30-9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 23, 2005, at DellaVecchia, Reilly & Smith Funeral Home, Inc., 410 North Church Street, West Chester, PA.
Contributions may be made to St. Agnes Church, 233 West Gay Street, West Chester, PA 19380 or Good Fellowship Ambulance Club, 600 Montgomery Avenue, West Chester, PA 19380.

posted by Chris O. @ 2/24/2005 04:57:00 PM