MARY ANNE DeSANTIS O'BRIEN

Mary Anne DeSantis O’Brien was the baby of the family, born March 2, 1955 to Louis and Anne Marie DeSantis. I am her sister, Lynn, and we have two brothers, Vince and Lou, Jr.

Mary Anne had a zest for life, a great sense of humor and bubbling personality. She had many friends, was very trusting, as well as very generous, whether she was giving credit to a new customer, or loaning a friend her last few bucks. We all knew we could count on Mary Anne.

She wasn’t perfect or a saint. She was known to drive a bit too fast, and then talk her way out of trouble by flirting (which she did very well) with the police officer. She must have known that she had to do everything fast to fit in to her short twenty nine years.

Mary Anne married Fran O’Brien in 1973 when they were both eighteen and fresh out of high school. She gave birth to her pride and joy, Michael Joseph, in 1976. He was the love of her life.

In 1980 she found a lump. She had a radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation. We were all praying this was the end of her cancer. After all, she was only twenty-five years old – too young!! However, this was not so. In 1983 the cancer reoccurred. We lost our dear Mary Anne on April 1, 1984.

She never asked “Why me?” She bolstered everyone around her. As she told me many times, “As long as Michael, Dad and Mom are okay and cared for, I am prepared for anything.”

The problem was we weren’t prepared. She left a tremendous void in everyone’s life. I always thought that she would be here. She was my friend, not just my baby sister. My brothers thought that she would always be here with them, too, at the appliance store to make them laugh; charm the customers, and just be their babysitter. And our parents always thought she would be here. After all, parents don’t bury their children.

Her son, Michael, and his wife, Andrea, would have loved for Mary Anne to be here to see her first grandson, Christian, and a soon-to-be-born granddaughter.

We all thought we could hover around her and protect our baby, just as we did in the past. No harm could come to such an adorable, loving and loyal person. We were wrong. Mary Anne, we love and miss you.