Mildred Louise O'Brien

Known as “Louise” to her family and “Millie” to her Florida friends, Louise passed away peacefully on Friday, January 31, 2025 at Sonata Assisted Living in Lake Mary, Florida. She enjoyed an active and independent life and appeared to be incapable of aging until a COVID diagnosis in August 2023 created health complications.

Born March 9, 1929 in Scalp Level, Pennsylvania to Mahala (Lehman) and David Lewis Masters, Louise was a happy, blonde haired beauty the whole of her life. She enjoyed a childhood running around the rural coal mining town and observing life’s lessons and compassion through the eyes of her great aunts who ran a boarding house, and with whom she and her older brother, Charles David lived. Her great aunts gave her a strong foundation that would carry her and allow her to carry others through life’s ups and downs. Louise was a 1948 graduate of Windber High School and kept in close contact with many of her childhood friends throughout the years via letters and annual Christmas greetings.

Louise met George O’Brien at Ripples Drive-In Restaurant in 1950, and they eloped to Winchester, Virginia on April 7, 1951. They enjoyed a tight partnership, and her passing ended their 73-year marriage. Louise and George raised their family of five children in Scalp Level, where Louise loved being a homemaker while George worked at Bethlehem Steel. She never met a stranger and was always a friend to the friends of her children as well. The couple was always ready to lend relatives and friends a hand, a trait they passed on to their children. In 1984 Louise and George realized their dream of Florida living following George’s retirement from the Mill, and together they enjoyed caring for their homes and landscaping and helping others in their neighborhoods of Eustis and Grand Island in central Florida. Louise became known as “Millie” when she worked at JC Penney in Leesburg, Florida, following their move to Florida. She was a voracious reader and believed Word Search puzzles kept her mind sharp as her age advanced. She loved music and would sing along even if she didn’t know the words. She had a sharp and quick wit, an easy disposition and an infectious laugh. If ever there was a ‘cat whisperer,’ Louise was one. No cat could resist her charms and one of her cats would relax as she ran the hand vac over him to remove excess fur.

Louise is preceded in death by many she loved due to her advanced age (parents, older brother, various in-laws). But she also buried some very dear ones before their times: her sons James Robert “Hank” and Allen Ray, and grandson James Louis O’Brien. Louise is survived by her sons George T. “Tom” O’Brien, Jr. (Marianne) of Las Vegas, NV, Robert W. O’Brien, Lake Mary, FL, her daughter, Sharon L. Sheldon (Jeff) of Sanford, NC, daughter-in-law, Roxanne O’Brien, Hooversville, PA, and her younger brother, James F. Strange (Pam) of Union Deposit, PA. She is also survived by four grandchildren, four great grandchildren, many nieces and nephews and their families.

Interment is in Oaklawn Cemetery, Lake Mary, Florida.