Getting to Know Our Neighbors: Carol O'Brien
By Pat Hurleigh
This month I had the pleasure of visiting Carol O’Brien along with my friend, Marilyn Holland. Carol met us at her door and graciously showed us to her beautifully set dining room table, including a beautiful teapot. There she served us tea and cookies before we began to talk about her treasured memories.
Carol, whose maiden name was Stio, grew up as an only child in an apartment in Astoria, Queens. One summer through a friend in New Dorp, Staten Island she met Morgan, who would later become her husband. They married several years after her high school graduation. She was 19 and he was 25. They moved to an apartment in Jackson Heights where they lived for a few years until it became too small for their growing family.
They moved to a house in Williston Park on the corner of Collins Avenue and Prospect Street where they lived from 1958 through December 1979, until their home became too crowded for them and their 6 children, Jeanne, Jackie, Chris, Kevin, Richard, and Keith. Then by luck Carol and Morgan found just the right house large enough for their big family on Bengeyfield Drive in East Williston. Carol and Morgan live there to this day. They have been married for 68 years.
When Carol was first married, she worked for a short while at an office in NYC. Then she stayed home to raise her children. In 1985 and for the next 17 years, Carol worked for a local orthodontist in East Williston where she was a receptionist and helped with insurance.
Carol has had lots of hobbies. When her children were young, she enjoyed knitting baby blankets and sewing their clothing. She remembers a French blue sport jacket that she made for her oldest son Kevin. She also made drapes for her home. Carol was active in the Mothers’ Club at St. Aidan School becoming its President. Many of the friends she met through her children and their activities remain friends to this day.
Carol enjoys attending the Senior Citizens in Williston Park every Wednesday where she visits with longtime friends. She has also been an active member of the St. Aidan Rosary Altar Society for over 60 years being an officer and eventually the president. She received the coveted Teapot Award which is given each year to a worthy Rosarian. The teapot is a source of pride to every Rosarian honored with this award.
Carol loves music especially the oldies like Doris Day, Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney. She loves theater and old movies. Reading a good book gives her great pleasure, too.
But her love for her family is her greatest joy. She repeated several times that she wants her children to remember “Family first”. When her family is together it brings Morgan and Carol the greatest happiness, watching her children enjoy each other. Having the family around her dining room table is her greatest sense of accomplishment.
As Marilyn and I got ready to leave, Carol wanted to make sure we saw the many family pictures she had displayed on her walls. This was a true demonstration of her love and pride for her wonderful family.
Carol reminds us all to treasure what we have whether it is a large boisterous family or a small family, or perhaps a family that we have created on our own from friends whom we treasure. Remember, “Family first.”
