Bom-Wrapper

The Memorial Candle Program has been designed to help offset the costs associated with the hosting this Tribute Website in perpetuity. Through the lighting of a memorial candle, your thoughtful gesture will be recorded in the Book of Memories and the proceeds will go directly towards helping ensure that the family and friends of Oliver Therrien can continue to memorialize, re-visit, interact with each other and enhance this tribute for future generations.

Thank you.

Cancel
Select Candle
Oliver Therrien
In Memory of
Oliver John "OJ"
Therrien
1919 - 2016
Click above to light a memorial candle.

The lighting of a Memorial Candle not only provides a gesture of sympathy and support to the immediate family during their time of need but also provides the gift of extending the Book of Memories for future generations.

Obituary for Oliver John "OJ" Therrien

Oliver John "OJ"  Therrien
Oliver John “OJ” Therrien, retired Deputy Chief of the Hartford Fire Dept, passed away on November 17, 2016. He was married for 62 years to his beloved late wife Margaret “Peg” (Clark) Therrien, who retired as a nurse from Hartford Hospital and passed in 2009. Oliver was born Dec. 9, 1919 on his family farm in Swanton Vermont, to the late Leopold and Marie Leda (Trembley) Therrien. He overcame many hardships in life, starting with almost dying at birth and being taken immediately in a basket to Swanton via horse-drawn carriage during a snow storm to get baptized. He worked on the farm with his father and brother, Pat, till he was 25, surviving the Great Depression, huge working horses, taking the cows across the Rt. 7 and the Vermont railway tracks every day, sun-up to sun-down work that included mostly manual labor and little machinery, out houses, lack of electricity, and a full load of school work. Though he was exempt from the military as a farmer, he joined the Army to serve his country in the Philippines during WWII. He spent 8 months after the war in a hospital on Staten Island recovering from diseases he was exposed to on the battlefield. After the war he moved to Hartford where his father and mother had relocated. In 1948 he became a firefighter for the Hartford Fire Department, just missing the Hartford Circus Fire, but experiencing many other big fires in Hartford, including the St. Joseph Cathedral Fire in 1957 and the Hartford Hospital fire in 1961. As Deputy Chief in 1978, he and his driver were the first to arrive on the scene at 5am when the Civic Center Roof fell in. He was hit in the head with a brick during the riots in Hartford while not wearing a helmet which caused him to lose his sight in one eye, but he wouldn’t retire due to his injury. He often led his men into fires to ensure that people were rescued and the fire put out quickly, and as Deputy Chief never needed to request a second alarm for additional help. While being a fireman for 34 years, Oliver took on many other jobs during his career. Owning the Citrus Fruit Juice Company, OJ Therrien delivered juice throughout the state, which solidified his nick name as OJ. He bought and kept up two six family apartment buildings in Hartford for many years. He went to night school for 20 years at the University of Hartford, earning a Bachelor Degree and a Masters Degree. From 1970-1982 he was a substitute teacher in Hartford at virtually every school and grade level. He could have written the book on workaholics. After retiring in 1982, Oliver returned to his love of farming and bought a farm in Columbia Ct., where he spent the next 35 years. The farm had not been worked in 60 years, but that did not deter him from restoring it to a working farm again, including building a barn and a substantial bridge, clearing fields of many rocks, and building a 2500 foot road. His wife Peg heroically worked alongside of him on the farm for most of those years (which we believe was grounds for sainthood). They both attended St. Columba Church in Columbia and were active at Corpus Christi in Wethersfield for many years while they lived in Wethersfield. Besides working, Oliver loved camping, fishing, traveling and entertaining his family and friends. OJ Therrien will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by his loving family, a son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Linda Therrien of Glastonbury; a daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Herminio DeCastro of Columbia; his three grandchildren, Jennifer Crombie, Michelle Michaud and Melissa Christina with her husband Brian; 8 great grandchildren, Raymond, Steven, Bailey, Ariel, Catelen, Madison, Isabelle and Natalie. In addition to his wife and parents, OJ was predeceased by a son Mark. He is also survived by his sister Priscilla Demers and many nieces, nephews and friends. The family would like to thank those that have provided additional support to OJ so he could live out his life in his own home; Adrianna Young, Farhod Abdullayev, Lida Ganieva, Irene Abdullayev, Tom Puckett, Nancy Winiarski, and Services for the Blind. A special thanks to Jack Lester from St. Columba Church, who visited Oliver regularly in his home over the years providing spiritual care and friendship, the late Fr. Cronin, who also visited Oliver at home for several years, Fr. Michael Smith, Fr. Brian Romarski, and Fr. George Richards. Calling hours are Friday, November 25, 2016 from 3-6pm at the Farley-Sullivan Funeral Home, 50 Naubuc Ave., Glastonbury. A Mass of Christian Burial celebrating Oliver’s life will be held Saturday, November 26th at 11am in St. Columba Church, Junction of Rtes 66 & 87, Columbia (attendees are asked to go directly to the church). Burial with military honors will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be sent to the Catholic Relief Fund or St. Columba Church in Columbia. To extend online condolences, share a memory and/or light a memorial candle, please visit farleysullivan.com.
Order Flowers
Recently Shared Condolences
Recently Shared Stories
Recently Shared Photos
Share by: