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Patrick O'Shea

Patrick O’Shea was an Irish immigrant and retired welder from County Cork who lived in Boston with his wife, Eileen O’Shea. The couple immigrated in 1968 and raised their children in the Boston area. Patrick and Eileen later became friends of Alastair Hargreaves and Siobhan Hargreaves.

Background and Immigration

Patrick was born in County Cork around 1928. He and Eileen immigrated to Boston in 1968 and remained there while raising their family.

Patrick worked as a welder for nearly forty years. By his late seventies, decades of manual labor had contributed to substantial fatigue and physical wear.

Marriage and Family

Patrick was thirteen years older than Eileen. They met at a family friend’s party around 1957, when she was sixteen and he was twenty-nine. He kept his distance after learning her age, despite her interest in him. When she was nineteen, she confronted him outside a pub about his avoidance; they began dating around 1960, later married, moved to Boston, and raised children in New England. The age gap drew scrutiny, including people dismissing Eileen as “just a girl.”

Their children included twins Liam and Lilian, known as Lily. Liam was carefree, mischievous, and tenderhearted. He died in a car accident at age twenty-one; Lily survived him and remained part of Patrick and Eileen’s life. Patrick continued to wonder whether he might have prevented the loss by stopping Liam from leaving that day, though he had not known what would happen.

By late 2006, their youngest daughter had given birth to her first baby. Patrick and Eileen planned to help her care for the child after returning home from England.

Health and Mobility

Patrick received a pacemaker around 2005, before the late-2006 flight on which he met the Hargreaves family.

He also lived with arthritis and chronic fatigue. Arthritis left his hands stiff enough that they did not fully close, made extended walking difficult, and required him to use a walking stick. The joints in his back and knees also stiffened during travel; Eileen prepared a heating pad and a warm bath with the salts he liked when they returned home.

Patrick used evening medication for his arthritis and pain, which could leave him sleeping heavily for twelve hours.

Around 2008, a severe sciatica flare left Patrick breathless and nauseated at the kitchen table. Eileen stayed with him while the pain began to ease, and she and Alastair helped him to the couch as his medication made him drowsy. As he rested, Eileen baked banana muffins without nuts, remembering that he disliked nuts in muffins.

Appearance and Voice

Patrick had a full head of hair and looked younger than his age. Alastair took him for a man in his mid-sixties when they met in late 2006, although Patrick was about seventy-eight. His hands were lined and spotted from age and years of work. He and Eileen still spoke with Irish accents after nearly four decades in Boston. Patrick’s humor could be dry and self-deprecating, but he could also be direct and no-nonsense when someone needed him to be.

Relationship to His Body

Patrick’s body no longer supported all the repair work and manual projects he still attempted to undertake. A doctor also prescribed CPAP, but Patrick rarely used it because he could not tolerate the mask on his face.

Friendship with the Hargreaves Family

Main article: Flight to Boston (Late 2006)

Patrick and Eileen met Alastair and Siobhan on a transatlantic flight in late 2006. The O’Sheas already lived in Boston and were returning from a visit with relatives in England; Alastair and Siobhan were moving to the Boston area while Siobhan was eighteen weeks pregnant with twins. After landing, Patrick used the family’s accessible van to bring the exhausted couple and Alastair’s wheelchair home safely.

Patrick and Eileen invited the Hargreaveses to stay for their first night in the United States. When the planned rental failed, the stay continued, and the younger couple eventually moved into the O’Sheas’ renovated two-bedroom basement apartment. Patrick and Eileen accepted rent only because Alastair insisted. Alastair reminded Patrick of Liam, especially in the quiet effort with which both men tried to keep others from worrying when they were in pain. The shared household made the friendship familial before Charlotte and Catherine were born. Patrick recognized Alastair’s tendency to work past exhaustion and, drawing on his own experience as a new father of twins while Eileen faced postpartum depression, sat him down and told him to accept help. During Alastair’s February 2011 hospitalization, the O’Shea family again provided practical support. Eileen brought food and checked on Siobhan, while Lily O’Shea cared for the twins.

Memorable Quotes

“Creaking with dignity. I earned every one of these aches hauling you across oceans and raising those hooligans we call children.”—To Eileen during the 2006 flight

“I love you more than life itself.”—His customary declaration to Eileen

Characters Supporting Characters Living Characters Irish Characters Disabled Characters Chronic Illness Characters Mobility Disabilities O'Shea Family