Born: 14 May 1921, Clonliffe Road, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 December 1940, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 22 April 1977, Kingsmead Hall, Singapore
Died: 20 February 2007, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore - Indonesian Province - Malaysia (MAS)

Part of the Kingsmead Hall, Singapore community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 04 February 1977 ; HK to IND (MAS) : 1991

Father was an auctioneer and then a commercial traveller. At the time of entry his father was unemployed. Mother died in 1934. Family is supported by businesses of two grandmothers.

Eldest of four boys with six sisters.

Early education was at a Convent School and then at O’Connells school for seven years. After the Intermediate Exam he was apprenticed to James Rooney, a tobbaconist on Suffolk Street, Dublin. He returned to school after sixteen months there and got his Leaving Cert.. He then went to work at Horton’s Tailors, on Grafton Street, Dublin as an apprentice.

by 1973 at Singapore (HK) working

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - O’Connells Schools; Apprenticed to an outfitter before entry

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 133 : Special Issue September 2007

Obituary

Fr Desmond (Des) Reid (1921-2007) : Malaysia Singapore Region

14th May 1921: Born in Dublin
Early education - Eccles St. Dominican, and O'Connell's CBS
7th December, 1940: Entered the Society at Emo.
1942 - 1945: Rathfarnham - BA in UCD History, Latin
1945 - 1948: Tullabeg - Philosophy
1948 - 1950: Mungret - Teacher
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park - Theology
31 July, 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park
1954 - 1955: Rathfarnham – Tertianship
1955 - 1963: Leeson Street - Minister, Asst. Editor, Studies.
2nd February, 1956: Final Vows, St. Ignatius, Leeson St.
1963 - 1969: College of Industrial Relations - Minister, Lecturer in Social Philosophy, Director Pre-Marriage Courses
1969 - 2006: Singapore, Parish of St. Ignatius, Kingsmead Hall
20th February, 2007: Died at Mt. Alvernia, Singapore

Excerpts from “A Tribute to Fr. Desmond Reid”, published by the Parish of St. Ignatius, Singapore, May 2007:
Once upon a time, a young Irishman left home and family for a distant land not knowing what lay ahead, but only that he had to go because the people there needed him. More than the apprehension of what to expect of a different culture, he was initially overwhelmed by the incredibly hot weather, only to thrive in it later as he was a “hot-house plant”.

The natives were extremely friendly and welcoming. Before long, everyone in the village got to know this humble, kind, caring, amiable, learned ang-moh, whom they invited to their homes and social functions. He would make it a point to mix with all who would invite him. He was at home with the young and old, the well-heeled and those whose heels had seen better days, the erudite and the retired. He was, if you wish, like the proverbial fairy godmother in every fairy tale, except that this one was for real.

He made it a point to be available to all who called on him because he was faithful to the One Who sent him. He tried his best to speak and think and act like the One Who, because of which he touched the lives of many individuals. Never judgmental or harsh, he attended to each and everyone with such care and attention that it made them feel special. This issue of SHARING features the stories of some of these folks.

Plagued by a bad back and a pair of equally disagreeable legs, he never complained or let them get in the way of what he was doing. Always mindful of the One Who sent him, he remarked several times that he was ready to “go home” if the One should call. That didn't happen for many, many years, until that fateful 20" February morning in 2007. And he lived happily ever after in the house of the One Who sent him,
Stephen Lee

He came for his first meeting with us on his scooter -- thin, wiry and white-haired. He told us he had a few health problems. Foremost of which, at that time, was the tendency to get a clot in a leg artery which caused the leg to swell like Popeye's. This was accompanied by fever and a lot of pain. They told him in Ireland that the heat in a tropical climate would do him good. This was one reason why he was sent here.

I was first surprised by his homilies – which we call allocutions. Coming from a Jesuit, they were unfanciful, down to earth, factual, and yet powerful in content. Later, we discovered what a lasting impact had on us. He was much quoted and appreciated.

One of the Junior Legionaries remembers best the parable that Fr. Reid told of the boy who was walking along the road and saw a snail crossing the road in the path of a car. The boy kicked the snail quickly to get it out of the way, and thus saved it. Nursing his pain in the ditch, the snail cursed the boy who kicked him. Fr. Reid said we are often like that with God. He sends us pain and sorrow, and we curse our fate. Only God, who can see the bigger picture, knows why it happened. Often it is to save us from greater dangers we cannot see or fathom. We have to remind ourselves of this story and encourage others, too, in their woes to trust in God.

The grapevine told us that Fr. Reid was a worrier because if things could go wrong they usually did. His mother died when he was young. His father's business failed, but he forbade his two priest sons from leaving the priesthood to help out. His priest brother, a Jesuit in Hong Kong, was shot and killed when investigating a night-time intruder. For someone who knew the value of suffering, sometimes Fr. Reid wondered if God sent him many sufferings for the good of souls. But as he lamented to someone, it is easier said than done to accept God's will constantly.

A familiar sight was that of Fr. Reid walking down the driveway with the Indian drunk who had come again for a handout. The man was clutching a two-dollar bill and Fr. Reid had his arm around the man's shoulders, like one supporting a good friend, and escorting him down the road for a good send-off.

Fr. Reid was specially known, of course, for his homilies. We are all familiar with the way he spoke, commanding attention from his first word to the last. He spoke barely above a whisper, but always simply and in a measured tone. As a teacher I always longed for this gift of Fr. Reid.
Joan Fong

I would see Fr. Reid sitting outside the residence, quietly praying, his gaze always on the statue of Our Lady. He would always greet me warmly and ask how I was, and I would share with him my thoughts and worries, and he would always say, “You're alright”, and tell me to keep praying and to trust in God. I came to experience real pastoral comfort and solace through this simple man, who accepted me with all my faults and welcomed me with open arms. He might never have thought that he was doing anything special, but he would be surprised how many others feel differently. I began to walk to church not just to pray, but to be just simply with Fr. Reid. I thank God for the special moments with Fr. Reid, priest and friend extraordinaire.
Terence Teo

Born: 31 January 1910, Suffolk Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died 18 July 1983, Riverside Drive, Rathfarnham, Dublin City, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 18 June 1935

Father, Henry Joseph owned a House Agency and Auctioneers, and later involved in the Hotel business (Jury’s & North Star). Mother was Mary Josephine (Byrne). Family resided at Claremount, Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin

Younger of two boys (older brother being in the Society) and one sister.

Early education was at a Holy Faith Convent, and then at Synge Street. Finally he spent six years at Belvedere College SJ.

1927-1929: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1929-1932: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1932-1933: Vals, France (TOL) studying Philosophy
1933-1935: Belvedere College SJ, Regency

https://www.dib.ie/biography/obrien-john-joseph-jack-a6477

O'Brien, John Joseph (Jack)
Contributed by
Murphy, Angela
O'Brien, John Joseph (Jack) (1910–83), businessman, was born 31 January 1910, second son of Henry Joseph O'Brien, hotel proprietor and house agent of Waterloo Rd, Dublin, and his wife Mary Josephine (née Byrne). Educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, he took a keen interest in rugby, tennis and, in particular, public speaking. Graduating BA from UCD, he enrolled at King's Inns in 1938 and qualified as a barrister in 1941. He rose to prominence within the business community when in 1937 he became secretary of a Dublin-based employers’ organisation, the Federated Employers, which had its origins in the labour disputes of 1913. O'Brien was ‘the driving force of the organization’ (McGuire, unpublished memoir, 74). It was O'Brien who envisaged unifying employers’ bodies throughout Ireland into one national organisation, which could match the professionalism of the trade unions in the arts of industrial relations and bargaining skills. With the support of their council, O'Brien and Edward McGuire (qv), president of the Federated Employers, set about forming a national body which would be manned by a staff of full-time professionals. The result was the foundation in 1942 of the Federated Union of Employers, with O'Brien as its general secretary (later redesignated as director general in 1951); he held this position until his retirement in 1960. During this time, he led negotiations with the ITUC on unofficial disputes and wage agreements.

His international career began in 1945 when he was elected adviser to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). During 1947–60 he held the position of employers’ delegate to the ILO. Moreover, in 1954 he became the first Irishman to hold a seat on the ILO's governing body, a seat that he held for two consecutive terms. His international prestige as a renowned public speaker grew, and in 1960 he was elected president of the International Organisation of Employers and vice-chairman of the International Labour Office. In 1958 he became a director of the Shannon Estuary Co. He still maintained a pivotal role within the commercial sector after he retired. His chief business interests lay in the hotel and tourism trade, and in 1960 he became chairman of Jury's Hotels Ltd. In the same year he was elected vice-president of the Dublin chamber of commerce, and the following year he became its president.

He always maintained an association with Belvedere College; in 1935 he was made honorary secretary of Old Belvedere Rugby Club and subsequently became its president (1953–6). He was also elected president of the College Union in 1966. A very dapper man, he always ran the FUE with great style; his renditions of ‘How can you buy Killarney’ and ‘Frankie and Johnnie were lovers’ were a feature at many annual dinners. The delivery of Trinity cigarettes from Fox's to the FUE every Friday was also an example of his style. He lived most of his life at 15 Riverside Drive, Rathfarnham, Dublin, with his wife Claire, their daughter, and their four sons until his death on 18 July 1983.

Sources
Ir. Times, 8 Dec. 1959, 19 July 1983; Brian Hillery and Patrick Lynch, Ireland in the International Labour Organisation ([1969]); Ir. Independent, 19 July 1983; Belvederian Yearbook 1984; Basil Chubb (ed.), FIE: Federation of Irish Employers 1942–1992 (1992) (photo); Kenneth Ferguson, King's Inns barristers 1868–2004 (2005); E. A. McGuire, unpublished memoir (private possession)