Friends remembered Brendan O’Reilly ’07 and shared stories to illustrate his outgoing personality at a memorial service held yesterday by the Office of the Dean of the College in the Memorial Chapel.
O’Reilly, an accomplished chemistry major, was killed in a bike accident in Arizona on August 30.
University Protestant Chaplain Gary Comstock opened the service and introduced the order of the proceedings. He emphasized O’Reilly’s effusiveness, and tailored the service particularly to his tastes: at the beginning and end of the service, songs O’Reilly enjoyed were played over a loudspeaker.
Dean of the College Maria Cruz-Saco spoke first, detailing O’Reilly’s academic accomplishments, including the CRC award for excellence in chemistry, which he won in his freshman year. Yet, despite his intellectual aptitude, all chose to focus on other aspects of O’Reilly’s life.
“What I remember about Brendan . . . was not his brilliance, though he was brilliant, but his attitude,” said Professor of Chemistry Stewart Novick.
To illustrate his point, Novick projected a picture of O’Reilly’s freshman year chemistry class onto a screen above the pulpit. O’Reilly, front and center, looks up with a smile on his face: he is the only student not buried in his notes.
Kevin McDermott, the junior varsity men’s crew coach and Phil Carney the varsity coach, put words to the impression given by the photograph. O’Reilly rowed both his freshman and sophomore year.
“I think his energy was contagious to that group of guys who were learning together,” Carney said. “He made our jobs really enjoyable.”
O’Reilly’s friends provided the most vivid and poignant picture of his character. Kate Olmstead ’06 lived on O’Reilly’s hall during her sophomore year after she transferred from Smith.
“I’m one of those people who [O’Reilly] just won over,” she said. “He had an amazing ability to make me, and I’m sure every person around him feel that you were his favorite person . . . It was hard not to feel the love that he had for everyone around him.”
Jess Rhodes ’07 lived at French house with O’Reilly when both were sophomores and told one of the event’s more memorable stories. One afternoon, while showering after rugby practice, O’Reilly banged on the bathroom door pleading with Rhodes to let him shower quickly. When Rhodes refused, O’Reilly removed the doorknob, and burst into the shower with her, soap in hand. He assured her that she would hardly notice his presence. Rhodes insisted that this was what life knowing O’Reilly was like.
“I was having a normal day and this sweet wonderful boy jumped into my shower and I couldn’t help but love him,” she said. Addressing his parents and siblings, she continued, “Thank you for letting Brendan into our lives, into my life . . . he just made everyone so happy.”
The final student speaker, Lydia Bell ’07 met O’Reilly during the second semester of their sophomore year in a class the two took together. The two started to date soon after. Bell focused upon anecdotes about and letters from O’Reilly. She loved to eat with him, she explained, because he always swore that the meal they were eating was the best meal he had ever had. She also admired how much he valued family and personal history.
“I knew what county he was from before I knew his last name,” she said. Dean for the Class of 2007 Lisa Gates closed the proceedings by sharing from stories she had collected about O’Reilly to give to his parents. Attendees were invited to take a flower from the bouquet decorating the pulpit and gather with O’Reilly’s family in the pavilion afterwards. After the service, Gates explained that O’Reilly’s parents had provided the Dean’s office with a list of his close friends and that Gates had invited all who showed interest to speak. Many, she said, did not feel up to the task. Colin Prensky ’07, the first of the student speakers, paraphrased the words of O’Reilly’s father at the funeral, and encapsulated the enthusiasm with which O’Reilly inspired those who knew him.
“We should mourn the people who never got a chance to meet Brendan,” he said.
O’Reilly’s father, Brian, attended the memorial service and helped comfort students during the reception held afterward in the Zelnick Pavillion. He said that he appreciated the ceremony and was struck by the high turnout of thirty to fifty people on an otherwise rainy day.
“We liked him and we knew he had a lot of friends down at home, but here it was kind of heartwarming to see how many people were affected by him,” he said. “He had an infectious personality.”
Pat Wolf ’07, who had rowed alongside O’Reilly on the crew team, sent an e-mail from Italy, where he is currently studying abroad, to express his grief.
“I’m sure everybody will tell you he was very energetic and engaging and enthusiastic about everything he did, which is certainly true,” he said. “He was in-your-face friendly, I would say, which sort of intimidated me at first, but after a little while his exuberant personality became one of the most reassuring and enjoyable things I had at school.”
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