John Patrick O'donnell

John Patrick "Jack" O'Donnell, 87, of Meadville, PA. passed away on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at Mease Countryside Hospital, Safety Harbor, Florida. John was born in Conneautville, PA. on May 29, 1921, the son of the late John Patrick and Julia O'Mahany O'Donnell. John graduated from Beaver High School in Conneautville, PA. in l939. He entered the United States Coast Guard, having served from 1940 to 1943 in Hoboken, New Jersey, as a pharmacists mate. While there, he met the beautiful, Mildred Ann Sottman, whom he subsequently married on December 31, 1943. After marriage, John drove a bus in New Jersey for two years. There upon he returned to Meadville, PA., where he worked as a yard master for the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, until it merged with Conrail. He retired in l981, after 30 years of service. Subsequently, he moved to Clearwater Beach, Florida, where he resided, for the past 28 years, until the present. In addition to his parents, and his wife, Mildred O'Donnell, John was preceded in death by his second son, Neal O'Donnell who passed away early in infancy from spinal meningitis, and a sister, Mary Agnes, who passed away in 2007. John is survived by three sons, the eldest, John O'Donnell, and his wife, Barbara, resides in Morgantown, West Virginia, and their four children, Patrick, Terry, Ryan and Kate. The third son, Daniel O'Donnell, and his wife, Lee, resides in Lancaster, PA, and their two daughters, Shannon and Lindsey. The fourth son, Mark O'Donnell, and his wife, Jill, resides in Chicago, Illinois and their two children, Suzanne and Mark. Two sisters, Catherine Margaret Shumaker and Frances Josephine Moosman, both of Meadville, Pa, Calling hours will be held on Friday, April 3, from 7 to 9 PM at the Roofner-Collins Funeral Home, 544 Chestnut Street, Meadville, PA. A Vigil Prayer Service will be held at 8:00 PM at the funeral home. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 AM on Saturday at St. Brigid Church, 364 Pine Street, Meadville. Burial, with full Military Honors, conducted by VFW Post 2006, will be in the St. Brigid Cemetery. Memorials can be made to the National Kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd Street, New York, New York 10016