Retired Minister Still Active Serving Others
Marilyn O’Brien of Pineville is a retired minister and now works for Ozark Funeral Home.
She and her husband, Tom, retired from owning beauty supply stores in Houston, Texas, in 1999 and moved to Pineville. They started attending the Methodist church there, and she became friends with the minister, who happened to be a lady who was also teaching an exercise and nutrition class O’Brien was attending.
In 2001, it was getting close to Mother’s Day, and O’Brien told the minister if she ever wanted a Sunday off, she would fill in for her. The minister said she could take Mother’s Day.
“When I got finished, I felt like the Lord was calling me into the ministry,” she said.
She started taking classes. The district superintendent assigned her a mentor, and they started going through the steps of discerning her call to the ministry, she said.
In September 2001, she was asked to preach the Sunday after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. By coincidence, her sermon was titled “In the Face of Fear.”
“It made me think maybe God was preparing me for that sermon even before (the terrorist attacks) happened,” she said.
In June 2003, she was appointed to two churches, Seneca United Methodist Church and Sears Prairie United Methodist Church. She stayed with those congregations three years and then there was a ministerial change in Pineville in 2006. She was then appointed to Pineville and Lanagan United Methodist Churches. In 2012, she retired. While she was working, she also attended seminary at St. Paul’s Seminary in Kansas City.
Following her retirement from the ministry, she took on a new challenge. She was familiar with B.J. Goodwin of Ozark Funeral Home. She told him if he ever needed someone to work visitations or fill in to officiate funerals, she would do it. She started working for Goodwin a couple of months after she retired from the ministry.
Last year she decided she wanted to get her funeral director’s license. Her next step will be to take a test to allow her to meet with families and plan funerals. What she is doing now does not require a license, she said.
O’Brien is also involved with an organization called Solace House. When she lived in Houston, she worked as a hospice volunteer. Her husband died in September. Solace House is trying to start an end of life care organization in Joplin.
“We’ve got land donated in Joplin and will eventually be able to build a standalone building with up to 10 beds,” she said. She wants to volunteer and be part of that, she added. She noted the facility will be at no cost to the guest.
“I’m really excited about that happening,” she said.
Asked how she manages to be so active during retirement, she said, “I don’t have any hobbies, and I just want to feel useful. I just never wanted to sit around. I like to stay active. I can’t imagine not working and doing something. I’ve been so fortunate because I’ve had so many people who were willing to mentor me.”
“I like to stay active. I can’t imagine not working and doing something. I’ve been so fortunate because I’ve had so many people who were willing to mentor me.”