photo by: Shelley Hanson

David O’Brien smiles while looking at the photos of his uncle, the late Rev. James O’Brien, inside the Center for Service named after him on Sunday at Wheeling University.

WHEELING — The late Rev. James O’Brien led a life of faith and service to God and people, which is why Wheeling University dedicated its Center for Service in his honor during a ceremony Sunday.

O’Brien, who died in 2023, came to the school in 1962. He taught there for decades, but even after his retirement he could still be seen on campus. His family, friends and colleagues said he was a good, kind man, who was soft-spoken and left people with a feeling of peace after speaking with him.

“We as a family are touched by this and we extend our gratitude,” David O’Brien, nephew of O’Brien, said during the ceremony. “Our memories of Jim from a family perspective are grounded in him being the most popular uncle. He was eminently relatable, positive. Our Christmases, our summers were not complete without Jim’s visit. … He brought joy to everyone around him.”

David O’Brien said it was not until he came to Wheeling University as a student that he understood his uncle’s impact and what family meant to him. He stayed engaged with students and faculty inside and outside the classroom all day long, often not getting home until 11 p.m.

“He took great delight in this place and the people of this place and this notion of family,” he said.

Also attending the event with David O’Brien was the Keys family – Brian and his wife Emily and their children Jack, 7, and Ellie, 4. Father O’Brien was the great uncle of Brian Keys.

During his time with the university, O’Brien also organized retreats and led annual trips to Big Laurel Learning Center in Kermit, West Virginia, where students and alumni cut firewood to heat the center. He was a faculty member in the Philosophy Department, moderator of the Alumni Council and he founded the “Justice and Peace in Our Time” student club.

WU President Dianna Vargo said O’Brien led by example. She noted she got to know him while serving on the Wheeling Hall of Fame committee. He was inducted in 2023.

“Whether you spoke with him on the telephone or you met with him in person, when you left, you left as a better person,” she said. “You felt peace, you felt calm.”

Vargo noted that O’Brien once said, “There is a line in an old verse that said one should ‘live by the side of the road and be a friend to those who pass by.’ That’s what I have tried to do – be a faithful person to God and others.”

The Rev. David Griffin, director of the Father James O’Brien Center for Service, said he never had the privilege of meeting O’Brien, but said he touched the lives of generations of students and faculty. He read a Bible passage about faith and works and noted that’s how O’Brien led this life.

“True faith is not just intellectual belief, but is demonstrated through tangible actions of love, compassion and service to others,” Griffin said. “Good deeds are a natural outcome for the transformed heart.”

WU trustee Daniel Haller said O’Brien was there for people in good times and in bad times.

“He was there for us … And the Jesuits have that mantra, being a person for others. Father O’Brien was that in spades,” Haller said. “He is a model of what a Jesuit should be.”