John E. O'Beirne 1940-2010

It is when I am in my car that I most miss my brother. I enjoyed calling him on my home from work and we would dissect the ineptitude of the Mets, the vagaries of the stock market, the travesty that is our Federal Gov't... and so on. I usually did most of the listening, he had the facts and just needed a prompt. He was incredibly well informed and up to date on what was happening. From Wall Street to Tulsk, from Broadway shows to the exorbitant taxes in Yorktown, John had the details. We always thought he would have made a great professor, such was his wealth of knowledge but for some reason he had a disdain for teaching in the formal, organized sense.

I learned so much from him on so many different subjects and while my interest in areas we had in common could be superficial, the depth of his knowledge was often incredible. I also benefited greatly from his advice (which sometimes was unsolicited and direct; occasionally subtle), but usually directionally correct.

We have all seem the realtor's photos online of his home in Yorktown and there is something surreal about seeing his comfortable house without himself pottering about. I have great memories of visiting there and I hope the new owners enjoy the house as much as he did, town taxes aside. From the time in 1985 when I fell through the screen when painting the porch, to watching my boys hunting for frogs in the back yard. They loved going to "Unka John's" because as he softened in later years he had a fridge full of soda pop and ice cream.

He is no doubt giving Michéal, Rita, Maureen, Uncle Eamonn and anyone that will listen and earful about Obama, the Rossies chances vs Cork, etc. The message has not changed, only the audience.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.