JAMES O'RIELLY Obituary

O'RIELLY, James J. Jim was born to Patrick and Mary Anne O'Rielly, April 6, 1923, in Mobile, Newfoundland, the next to the last child in a family of six. He followed his sister, Marg, from Newfoundland to the Boston area after a brief stay in Ontario. Almost immediately, he went to work for Coombs Motor Company, a Ford dealership in Watertown Square, where he worked for more than 50 years. Driving past the woman who would become his wife, he started giving Kay (Walsh) rides to work, at her office adjacent to the dealership. Jim and Kay married September 6, 1952 and became the parents of three daughters: Kathleen, Mary and Eileen. They raised the girls in Waltham, where all three graduated from Waltham High during the 1970s. Jim retired in 1996. Representatives from Ford Motor Company traveled from Detroit to acknowledge his service. On one if his last days of work, the sales staff (Coombs serviced the WGBH vehicles) arranged for him to meet Norm Abrams, join him for lunch and view a taping. Jim declared it "the best day of my life." He brought home a signed poster of Norm Abrams from This Old House to join his library of Norm Abrams books in his "old yankee workshop." Kay worked from home and directed the Fitch Elementary School library as a volunteer, ordering all the materials and organizing the all-volunteer staff. After her death in 1997, the school named the library, now a Media Center, in her honor. In 2003, after nearly 50 years in Waltham, Jim sold his duplex home on the South Side, and moved a mile away to West Newton, into a small cape with necessary basement workshop and garage. With a large corner lot, he built a ramp for the backyard shed and outfitted it with a riding lawnmower and snow blower. At the time, he declared that he would work in the yard until he was 92! Mary and Eileen outfitted Jim with a set of golf clubs after Kay died, and he played with Mary's company league and at the Leo J. Martin Golf Course for many years. In his new workshop, he continued to build furniture and small woodworking projects. When grandson, Brian, moved to the Boston area for work after college, Grampa taught him to use the workshop equipment. Later years, when mobility issues limited his work in the cellar, he vicariously enjoyed Brian's projects. Similarly, no longer able to continue golfing, he watched tournaments. At 98 and a half, he stopped driving, and gave Mary his car. Family Zoom calls kept him in touch with family members who visited when in the Boston area. Jim is survived by his daughters, Kathleen of West Newton, Mary Toney (Greg) of Arlington, VA and Eileen Collins (Steve) of Reading. He enjoyed his four grandchildren: Megan Toney Bolger (Darren) of Michigan, Brian Toney of Salem, James Collins of Brighton and Julia Collins of Los Angeles. In addition, he has two great-grandchildren, Brandon and Zachary Bolger of Michigan. Homebound after he stopped driving and moved with a walker, Jim appreciated the weekly delivery of books from the Newton Library. It made every week feel like Christmas morning! The O'Rielly family is thankful for the support of the Good Shepherd Community Hospice. Jim's siblings predeceased him: Margaret of Waltham, Bill (Jeanette) of England, Nance Tobin (Ralph), Johno (Josephine) and Terry (Marie) from Newfoundland. He leaves many nieces and nephews, both in Newfoundland and the United States. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at 10AM, in Corpus Christi-St. Bernard Church, West Newton, followed by interment in Mount Feake Cemetery, Waltham. Family and friends are invited to a Visiting Hour immediately prior to the Mass, beginning at 9AM, in the Burke & Blackington Funeral Home, WEST NEWTON. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to either Catholic TV, P.O. Box 9196, Watertown, MA 02471 or Good Shepherd Community Care, 160 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02459. Burke & Blackington BurkeFamilyFuneralHomes.com

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