Camden People - T. Carroll O'Brien

THOMAS CARROLL O'BRIEN was born in September of 1899 to Martin and Sarah Margaret O'Brien. His father was an undertaker. He had established his undertaking business at 561 Carman Street by 1890. By the time T. Carroll O'Brien was born, Martin O'Brien had moved his funeral home to 613 Market Street, Camden, where the family lived until the 1920s. The business was very near the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at Broadway and Market street. During much of this time they lived next door to photographer George A. Wonfor. T. Carroll O'Brien was a 1919 graduate of Camden High School, where he studied voice under Lucy Dean Wilson. He was a classmate of Frank M. Travaline, who would have a long and distinguished career in law and politics in Camden. Another classmate, Dora Yuschinsky, would work for many years as the secretary to Congressman Charles A. Wolverton.

When the census was taken in 1930 the family had moved to 211 West Maple Avenue in Merchantville NJ. T. Carroll O'Brien was by this time working as the musical director at an area high school. Martin O'Brien passed away prior to October of 1936.

In the late 1920s T. Carroll O'Brien operated the "Carroll O'Brien Studios" at North 7th and Market Streets, where he and his faculty gave music lessons, teaching "Voice Development- Style- Repertoire- Diction". His sister Eleanor, four years his junior, was a member of the faculty.

By the 1928 T. Carroll O'Brien was also teaching at Abington High School in Abington PA. In 1947, a group of Abington High School Alumni decided they wanted to continue singing and performing in a choir. A meeting was held with their former music teacher, and the Abington Choral Club was born, with “Obie,” as he was affectionately called, as the music director. Sadly, T. Carroll O'Brien did not live to see the first formal concert, presented in May 1948 at Abington High School auditorium, under the musical direction of Henry R. Casselberry.

His widowed mother and sisters Anne and Eleanor were still living at the Merchantville address as late at 1946. A scholarship was set up in his name at Abington High School which is still awarded to college bound graduates today.

1919 Camden High School Yearbook - The Purple & Gold