Marcia Mae O’Brien

Marcia was born on May 12th, 1938 in Sidney Montana, the oldest child of six of Thomas Patrick Reid and Lauretta Margurite (Geisen) Reid. She graduated from Poplar High School in 1956, Holy Rosary Hospital Nursing School in Miles City in 1959, and from Carroll College in Helena in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Marcia decided to become a nurse at the age of 18 after a dangerous reaction to a penicillin shot required the quick reaction of another nurse to keep her airways from closing.

Marcia renewed her acquaintance with Gerald Richard O’Brien in San Francisco in 1963 and they were married in 1964. After two more years in the bay area, they moved to Longmont in 1967 where they raised their three children, Michele, Timothy and Maureen.

Marcia was a devout Catholic. She used faith, compassion, and pragmatic medical skills to help bring comfort and support to those around her. Marcia was the head nurse in the E.R. at Longmont United Hospital through the 1970s and taught CPR classes around the community ultimately practicing Nursing at IBM, St. Vrain Valley Schools and finally the Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton before retiring in 1990. Marcia was a founder of the multi-denominational Stephen’s Ministries program and co-led the organization at St. John’s church for many years. Marcia and Jerry were also very active in counseling newly engaged couples through the Marriage Encounter program.

The greatest of Marcia’s talents was her well-practiced art of storytelling, passionately observed from her father and grandmother during her formative years. She loved Montana and telling family stories that blended both joys and sorrows into the same narrative as a means to give consideration and meaning to her audience. Her legacy will be reflected in the lives of those she loved: her husband Jerry O’Brien of Longmont, her daughter and son-in-law Michele and Michael Glade of Littleton; son and daughter-in-law Timothy and Lisa O’Brien of Longmont; and daughter and son-in-law Maureen and Sean McCoy of Longmont. Marcia's joy in life were her grandchildren and their respective families: Christopher and Jennifer Glade, Marcus and Maricruz Glade, Kyle and Dayna O’Brien, Claire McCoy and fiancé Ranon Pritchard, Sean O’Brien, Mollie McCoy, Alec O’Brien, Kelsey O’Brien and certainly not least, her great-grandchild William Patrick Glade. Marcia is also survived by her two sisters Karen K. Miller and Cherryl A. Dougherty and many cousins, nieces and nephews that she loved dearly.

A viewing will be held at Ahlberg Funeral Chapel on Monday, December 13 from 6pm-8pm with rosary starting at 7 pm. A mass celebrating Marcia’s life will be held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Tuesday, December 14th at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Boulder County TRU Hospice at trucare.org.