Age 26. 171 Hemenway Street (Reynolds Hall, apartments), Boston. Born (as Sybil O'Brien) on 9/20/1916, in Boston. Died of smoke inhalation (death certificate), or "burned to death" in the checkroom (Fire In The Grove, by author John C. Esposito). Grove foyer cloakroom girl with coworker Miss Vita Maria "Anna" Lettini, age 26 (Born 9/10/1916. Died as April M. Peck on 4/08/2005, age 88. Last residence Tucson, AZ), injured. Miss Lettini to Boston Police, 11/29/1942: "I heard a lot of noise from people downstairs...I said to Barbara O'Brien, another girl that works there...'Look.' She said, 'Let's go out'..." Also: "She grabbed my coat and gave it to me" (police department transcript, 12/10/1942). Miss Lettini stated that Miss O'Brien left for the exit first, and thought that Miss O'Brien had safely escaped. Club service cashier and survivor Mrs. A. Cecil Mahoney, age 51 (Born 4/12/1891. Died 2/16/1968, age 76. Last residence Peaks Island, ME), to reporters at Northern Mortuary on the following Tuesday: "Have you heard anything about Barbara?...She was the pretty girl in the cloakroom, I guess she must be all right, or I would have heard" (The Boston Herald, 12/02/1942). Recalled in 1967 by assistant pastor and fire witness Fr. Damian Sanò (Born 5/29/1913. Died 10/26/1979, age 66. Last residence Brighton, MA): "I can still see the hat-check girl, sitting there like a mummy" (The Boston Globe, 11/26/1967). Remains were identified at Southern Mortuary by an 18-year-old stepsister Rita Winters (not present). Was single. Was the lone club coatroom girl (of three present, also New Lounge checker Mrs. Eleanor Casella, age 26) to perish. One of three female Grove employees killed (also cigarette girl Miss Shirley "Bunny" Leslie, age 20, and service cashier Miss Katherine "Kate" Swett, age 67). One of three identified victims still unclaimed at city morgues as of December 2 (also Mrs. Olga Estes, age 25, a patron, and Harold Hawkins, age 46, a rescuer). Late mother Miss Helen J. O'Brien. Mother was age 15 at the time of her birth. Father shown as "unknown" (state birth index). Her single mother later married three times, died as Mrs. Helen J. Beavers on 5/04/1941, in Seattle, WA, of stomach cancer, age 40. Burial at Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden, MA. Her grave is marked by a solitary modest rough-cut stone which reads the single word: "O'Brien." Middle name Patricia.

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