Margaret “Maggie O” O’Bryan

Margaret Mary O’Bryan, lovingly known as “Maggie O”, died March 13, 2018 in Leawood, Kansas. She was a woman whose joy in life, selflessness, and generosity of spirit transformed the lives of others. She was 92 years old.

Maggie was a born teacher.  After graduating from high school, she attended Loretta Heights College in Denver, CO, where she obtained her B.S degree in Chemistry.  She then went on to earn her Master’s degree in Education at Pittsburg State University.  For sixteen years, Maggie taught at St. Agnes School in Roeland Park, and for another ten years in St. Paul, KS.

In the classroom, Maggie’s lessons were long-lasting.  One student said only this week, after forty years had passed: “Miss O’Bryan’s classroom was joyful and she made us feel special, even when presented with challenging situations.  I will always remember Miss O’Bryan and what she did for me.”

Maggie, indeed, stood up to multiple challenges.  She went to Gadsden, Alabama in the 1960s, and taught the poorest of the poor.  She was the first white woman to begin a Head Start program there.  On another occasion, in a town where the town’s symbol representing law and order was a Bible with a gun on top of it, Maggie found herself at a segregated moviehouse; she insisted on sitting with the African Americans.  Maggie was nothing, if not courageous, acting quietly, and with conviction, as a model of how to behave in the face of injustice.  Her teaching extended far beyond the classroom.  She did not just talk the talk, but with courage she walked the walk.

In a real sense, Maggie was our family’s matriarch.  Family meant everything to her.  She referred to her sisters as the “seven sassy sisters,” who she adored above all, and three beloved brothers as well. That love extended to nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, who naturally developed their own unique and prized relationship with her. She was a loving caretaker, not only for her aging mother and other family members, but for any friend in need.  She just showed up. She was the Auntie Mame of the family, wanting to expand our horizons through everything imaginable, from visiting the Louvre in Paris to the baseball museum’s Hall of Fame, to bumper car rides; there was nothing under the sun she did not find interesting, or make interesting.  As her nephew Frankie said, “Aunt Awesome was always up to dreaming with me on my first business or when we would fly in my first helicopter.” She also had a way of making day-to-day life fun by seeing how many kids would fit into a phone booth in the 1960’s, chasing down the newest Beanie Babies at 6:00 am at the Jones Store in the 1990’s for our collection or jumping the curb on state line to be in Kansas and then back to Missouri in seconds in the 2000’s.

Margaret Mary O’Bryan, our beloved Maggio O, was a woman whose whole heart was filled with unconditional love and joy for others.  She lived from a place of deep caring. On occasion, she would inform family that everything she owned would fit into the trunk of her car. Loving relationship with people, not belongings were at the core of her belief system.  Her jewels were her deep and abiding and loving relationships.  This was the precious cargo of her beautifully-lived life.  She was our gift, our pal, our life compass, our best teacher.  She was our dear, dear Maggio O.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 AM Saturday, March 24, 2018 at St. Anne’s Church, 7231 Mission Road, Prairie Village, Kansas. A reception will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family request donations to the Angel Fund in Memory of Margaret O’Bryan, St. Agnes School, 5130 Mission Road, Roeland Park, Kansas 66205.

Margaret Mary O’Bryan was the eldest of Margaret and Ed O’Bryan of St. Paul, KS.  She is survived by her sisters--Ruthy Thayer of Houston, TX; Gracie Power of Prairie Village, KS; Winnie McGannon of Palo Alto, CA; Kathleen Keisner of Joplin, MO; Mary Dungan of Huntington Beach, CA; Charlene Brazil of Topeka, KS—as well as two brothers, Bill O’Bryan of Omaha, NE, and Miles O’Bryan of Mountain View, CA.  She is preceded in death by brothers Roddy and Casey O’Bryan, both of St. Paul, KS.