John B. O'Brien

John Bernard O’Brien, aged 84, passed away December 16 at his winter home in Surprise, Arizona from complications of bile duct cancer. To view the service via livestream, please click on the tribute wall above and select watch now. You may also go to https://youtu.be/Dy_HGCDJhCU to view. John was born June 29th, 1937 in a farmhouse in Adair County, Iowa near Menlo, very near where the Adair County Freedom Rock stands today. He was the youngest of eight children born to John A. and Anna E. O’Brien. He attended a rural one room school through the eighth grade and graduated from Menlo high school with the class of 1955. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army. After training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas and Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, he was stationed in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and then in Kornwestheim, Germany with the 24th Engineers. After being honorably discharged in 1958 he then worked for O’Brien Plumbing, Heating and Electric in Menlo until 1969 at which time he started working as an electrician at Armstrong Rubber Co. in Des Moines, Iowa. He left there to work at Firestone in 1995, retiring in 2002. John attended Iowa State University and was married in 1962. Four children were born to this union, Michael, Darin and Steven. In 1989 he and Marie Davidson Backstrom were married. Upon Marie’s retirement from MidAmerican Energy in 2010 they enjoyed spending winters in Arizona and summers at the lake home in northern Minnesota. They loved traveling together and traveled to all 50 states and 43 of the 63 national parks. They took a ski trip to Switzerland and Austria, and visited Germany and The Netherlands. They each visited Ireland as well. They enjoyed many family annual fishing trips to Canada. John loved doing the daily crossword puzzles, playing Trivial Pursuit and card games as well as contract and duplicate bridge. John was a lifelong Chicago Cubs and Iowa Hawkeyes fan. He and Marie had season tickets to the Hawkeyes for 29 years. They also visited several Big Ten stadiums for away games as well as the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1986. John is survived by his loving wife Marie, children, Darin (Jennifer) O’Brien and Steven O’Brien; step-children Brian Backstrom (Amy Randolph) and Alicia (Darin) Sabers; 6 grandchildren (Shawn, Aaron and Kelly Brynildson, Donnie (Heidi) O’Brien, Stephanie (Joe) Holsten and Katie O’Brien; 2 step grandchildren (Sheldon (Dana) Sabers and Lauryn Sabers); 9 great grandchildren (Jadyn, Jackson and Jace O’Brien, Abby and Emily Holsten, Quinn, Cooper, Nathan and Riley Brynildson); sisters-in-law Phyllis O’Brien and Linda (Gary) Streeter; brother-in-law Glen Davidson (Melanie Abbott); mother-in-law Ruth Davidson; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. John was preceded in death by his son Michael in 2002, his parents and his siblings: brother Wayne (Harriet) O’Brien, sisters Mary (Kenneth) Cook, Elizabeth (Albert) Waltz, Martina (Vincent) Breheny, Rita (Jerry) Bishop, Teresa (Irwin) Powell and Rose (Richard) Cox. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Sunday, December 26, 2021 at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home and Crematory. Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:00 a.m., Monday, December 27, 2021 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines. Burial will be at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Minneapolis, Minnesota where his oldest son Michael received wonderful care.