Joan V. O'Brien

Joan V. O'Brien, Professor emerita in Classics from Southern Illinois University, author of ‘The Transformation of Hera’, ‘In the Beginning: Creation Myths from Ancient Mesopotamia, Israel and Greece’ and ‘The Guide to Sophocles’ Antigone’, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 96.

Born in Meriden, CT, she graduated from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, then taught in Hamden, CT for two years before entering the community of the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs as a novice in 1949. She began her teaching career in 1952 at Dominican Academy on E68th St. in New York, where she taught Latin and Greek by day and slept in her classroom at night. Every morning, she and her colleague would scurry around to clear the classroom of any traces of their personal belongings. She always told of the day the students found her stockings and other paraphernalia hanging in the bathroom.

She received her Ph.D in Classics from Fordham University in 1961 and taught at Albertus Magnus College. In 1967 she left the Dominican community and joined the Classics department at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where she spent the next thirty years bringing the ancient Greek playwrights to vivid life, leading the students in the staging the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus. Joan was a master teacher. She cried at the thought of retirement.

She led many student groups to Rome and Greece, opening their eyes to the treasures of antiquity there. In researching her book The Transformation of Hera, Joan spent several summers bicycling to archeological digs on the island of Samos. 

She traveled widely, from Greece and Italy to the USSR and Egypt, swimming in the beloved ocean whenever possible, whether it be the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic or the Ionian!

Joan did not wish to be called Doctor. She much preferred Joan. She was devoted to the Catholic Church and her commitment to the underdog was unwavering. She donated large portions of her income to the poor. She was always there to provide a listening ear to anyone in need. She dressed simply, paying no attention to the fashion of the day. She was very partial to her camouflage-design pork pie hat and for the last several years she sported a fleece hat with fur trim (a gift from a dear friend) that stopped people in their tracks.  She looked like Russian royalty.

Her attire was so odd that over the years, she was stopped several times by the cops, who thought she must have wandered away from some nearby asylum. Once, when she was staying in a motel to officiate at her niece’s wedding, she decided to take an early morning walk from her hotel to find the local grocery store. A police cruiser stopped and the cop asked her what she was doing walking along such a busy road. This was not her first traffic stop. She answered, “I’m looking for a banana.” He gave her a ride to the grocery store in the cruiser. 

Music was at the heart and soul of Joan O’Brien. She began piano lessons at age five and never stopped, playing Mozart, Grieg and her beloved Beethoven well into her 90’s. She hosted numerous informal gatherings of faculty and friends at her home in Carbondale, which always featured food (potluck – Joan was no cook), laughter, piano-playing and singing –everything from ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’ to church hymns to The Hut-Sut Song. Every church choir she ever joined (and she joined plenty) was delighted to add her strong tenor voice. Singing was central to her life.   

She had many friends, former students and a band of friends from her Dominican days that never broke apart.  They were all devoted to one another until the end.  

Her Catholic faith was her guiding light. She was devoted to the church, but at the same time very involved in the push for change, for the ordination of women. She was there for some of the first meeting of The Voice of the Faithful in their push for transparency about child abuse by priests. 

In her last years, she moved to Newburyport, MA to be near her niece. There, she quickly became a beloved figure, known simply to townsfolk as ‘Aunt Joan’. She walked to Immaculate Conception Church for daily Mass, rain or shine, winter or summer. Traffic stopped when she crossed the street; lucky thing, because she often neglected to look both ways!

She will be missed by her many nieces and nephews and her devoted community of friends, but she will have a joyous reunion with her God and all the saints who have preceded her!

All are invited to Joan’s Funeral Mass at 10:30 AM on Friday December 9, 2022 at Immaculate Conception Church, followed by burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery. Her niece Kate Sullivan and other family will greet guests in the Church from 10:00 to 10:30 before her Mass. The Twomey, LeBlanc, & Conte Funeral Home 193 High St. Newburyport,  MA 01950 is assisting Ms. O’Brien’s family with her arrangements.

For directions or to offer online condolences please visit www.tlcfuneralhome.com

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