Eulogy For Anne - by her nephew, Rob Landsberry
It was actually on this very day, the 13th of March in 1917, that Thomas and Catherine O’Brien had their first child…..Mary O’Brien. And here we are today…103 years later to the day…paying our respects to their 12th and youngest child, Anne O’Brien.
Anne O’Brien
So, it’s appropriate that I’ve got this chance to honour one of Aunty Anne’s requests for her service – because it involves both Mary and Anne.
Aunty Anne left a note with some instructions, and one of these explained that, when she was just six years old, she’d asked Aunty Mary to teach her some prayers. And she asked that those prayers be read at her service.
So, this is the first one.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
I give you my heart, my soul, my life.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Assist me now and in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
May I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.
AMEN
And this is the second prayer:
Angel of God, my guardian dear
To whom God’s love commits me here.
Ever this day, be at my side
To light and guard….to rule and guide.
AMEN
In many ways, the simplicity and faith in those prayers, sums up Aunty Anne’s life. And at six years old, it seems that she, or maybe it was Aunty Mary, had predicted her vocation, with the words in the first prayer saying that she was giving “her heart, her soul and her life to Jesus”. Because that’s exactly what she did….for all of her 88 years.
In preparing for today, I asked some people for some words that defined Aunty Anne. And, without exception, everyone said “her faith”. In fact, I never once heard any doubts from Aunty Anne.
And It’s also worth thinking about that a little more. As the youngest of the twelve kids, for her whole life she’d had her parents and her 11 siblings as a constant. So, imagine the strength it took for someone in her teens, and in the 1940’s, who’d grown up on a farm in a small country town, to be willing to break that family bond, and enter the convent. So strong was Aunty Anne’s faith and calling, that even at that young age, she simply had to leave the family for her new life in the church.
Anne just behind her Dad - 1948
You only have to see the pure joy on her face in the photos when she became a novice, to know that she was always destined for a life in the church.
I want to read Aunty Anne’s own words about this:
I’ve been asked “how did you feel about leaving your family”. Well, I say this. I was like someone who was about to get married – just thinking of the person they’re marrying. And I was going to be, please God, espoused to Christ ultimately, so it didn’t affect me.
Well…at least at first. But a few weeks went on, and the other sisters were all breaking down and crying, and one of them said to me through tears, “have you cried yet” and I said “no…..but it won’t be long now”….and then I burst into tears.
Family celebrations and parties were many and frequent as we grew up. For me, it always felt like I had multiple circles of family. There was my immediate family - my Mum, Dad, sister and brother. And around that was another circle, with Aunty Claire and her five kids….and Aunty Anne was also part of that very important circle.
The three sisters were joined at the hip – Gwen, Claire and Anne - and they were the most constant and consistent influences in my life in those formative years, as they no doubt were for many other cousins.
Then around that circle was the wider group of aunties, uncles and cousins. And the bonds between these three circles were as strong as I’ve ever seen in any family. With Aunty Anne as the religious touchstone for the whole clan.
You can see these bonds in photos of Anne with her siblings. They don’t just put an arm around one another. They sit on one another’s laps. They hold hands. They grip one another’s arms. Just like The Force…the O’Brien bond was strong in those ones!
There’s so much more to say about Aunty Anne – her tennis prowess, her own education and awards, her commitment to teaching, her robust support for the Australian wine and Baileys industries….and much, much more. But time is limited today.
So, I want to end by acknowledging Aunty Anne’s amazing sense of humour.
This is something she obviously had from a young age….and she could often be incredibly funny, even without knowing it. Here’s a story in her own words.
We all went to the public school at Junee Reefs and Bishop Hansky came down to visit the school. And the Bishop apparently asked me “and what’s your name”. I said “Anne”, and he said, “and what’s your other name” to which I replied, “well, my name’s Anne, but they call me Podge”.
Because, back then I was a little bit chubby, and I had three nicknames - Podge, Pudding, and Fatty Arbuckle.
In later years, Aunty Anne also loved to tell the odd yarn. So, even though today’s a sad day for all of us, let me finish on a lighter note, knowing that Aunty Anne would approve.
If you’re like me, you may have heard Aunty Anne tell this story a dozen times or more – she loved it because it brought together three of the pillars in her life – religion, education and humour.
So here I’ll end with Aunty Anne’s favourite yarn. And I’ll do my best to tell it just like she did.
So, there’s this nun, let’s call her Sister Anne, and she’s taking a class of 7 year olds for religious instruction. She says to the class “So today, I want you to draw one of your favourite scenes from the Bible.”
Well, the kids get out their coloured pencils and their paper, and they get to work.
Sister Anne wanders around the classroom admiring all the work, and congratulating the kids.
That is until she gets to young Jack. She picks up his drawing and she says: “Now Jack, I said to draw a picture from the Bible.”
“Yes sister....I did”, says Jack.
“Well, I hate to point this out, Jack, but this is a drawing of an aeroplane.”
“That’s right sister”, says a rather proud Jack.
“But how is that from the Bible?” asks sister Anne.
“Well”, says Jack “you know Mary and Joseph and Jesus, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course I do”, says Sister Anne.
“Well….that’s their flight into Egypt”.
Well….Sister Anne tries not to laugh, before asking Jack “And if Joseph, Mary and Jesus are in the plane…who’s that up the front…in the cockpit?”
To which Jack replies “Oh him? That’s Pontius - the Pilot”.
The Flight into Egypt
We’ll miss Aunty Anne very much. Her presence at family gatherings. Her amazing memory for family stories and facts. Her sense of humour. And her commitment to her faith, her family and to others. May you rest in peace Aunty Anne.
Written by Rob Landsberry. last modified 28 September, 2025