28 January

O’Hearn’s: Father And Daughter

by Jon Katz
Father And Daughter
Father And Daughter

Family businesses, like family farms, were an integral part of American life for centuries. O’Hearn’s Pharmacy was started by Bridget’s father Dick in 1976, he returned a few years ago and Bridget took over, he and the rest of the family showed up in force this morning to help Bridget celebrate her liberation from the toppling building next door. Bridget’s  mother told me a wonderful story of a man who ran an adjoining pharmacy who loved to drink and sat in his pharmacy all day in a wheelchair in a three piece suit with a bow tie. Sometimes he needed help filling prescriptions, he slept on a mattress in the rear of the pharmacy, the town police officer found him dead there one morning.

It was freezing cold, but this was a happy crew. The town’s mayor showed up, the fire and police chiefs appeared, the street was clogged with trucks and tractors.  There is something quite beautiful about the O’Hearn family, they love and support one another very strongly, there is a thread of generosity and community that seems to run in a straight line through them all.

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