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Nearing St. Pat's Day



Folks,
Well, youse guys are good.  I had two answers to my teaser within an hour; one from Georgia and one from Minnesota (you know who you are).  While under siege by the General Counsel's staff [see op. cit.] I was reading the Proceedings of the Forty-sixth Annual Encampment of the Department of California and Nevada-Grand Army of the Republic: Held at Reno, Nevada June 10, 11, 12, 13, 1913.  This remarkably informative work [ the administration of the Santa Monica Branch of the Soldier's Home was under attack and a recommendation was forwarded to Congress that the Home be placed under the War Department in part because the Home refused to have the general mess waiters pour coffee from pitchers rather than place it in earthen bowls on the tables where it cooled before the men could drink it, but I digress] presented to me a photo lithograph of O'Brien with his white mustache Dei sub numine viget.  Hmmmm, where was I ? Oh yeah, as my correspondents pointed out (as did the picture title) O'Brien was he who first originated "the present beautiful custom of rising and standing uncovered when the 'Star-Spangled Banner" is being played or sung.  According to my Georgia informant, O'Brien died in 1914 the year after the encampment and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California where Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi, architect julia Morgan and author Frank Norris are also buried.  Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.  Dick King, University of Arizona.