The red bandera-ed 81-year-old helped to found Los San Patricios de Arizona, a group that brings two Catholic cultures -- Irish and Mexican -- together.
This Saturday, members of the group will march in the St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown Phoenix. O'Brien will hoist the Irish standard alongside his compadres, Felix and Hector Corona, who will handle the Mexican and Arizona banderas. Felix's daughter Beatrice, waving Old Glory, will lead the troops.
Los San Patricios de Arizona will no doubt stick out like a green, giant thumb in a barren desert. Bagpipers in kilts will march with mariachis. Charros (Mexican horsemen) and all-female sidesaddle precision riders will ride as youngsters spin riatas (braided ropes).
It is sure to be a spectacle, but there's more than pageantry going on here.
The group celebrates the memory of the original Los Patricios, a group of army deserters made up mostly of Irish immigrants who became an integral fighting force for Mexico during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).
Also known as St. Patrick's Battalion, the company fought under a green silk banner bearing a gold image of St. Patrick on one side and a shamrock and harp on the other. The men won the praise of both foe and friend in five major battles.
Beyond that, O'Brien likes the similarities of the two Catholic nations. "They are two separate cultures that like the same things -- values, music, dancing, drinking and fighting. The good things in life," he says with a chuckle.
The Coronas bring lariat expertise and equestrian majesty to the display, which thrills O'Brien, who says he came to Arizona to become a cowboy. He talks fondly of the rodeo's origin in Mexico, but mostly he talks of the bond that was created between the two Catholic nations brought together by famine and war.
On Saturday, the float carrying wives and children of the participants will mirror the parade's family theme, O'Brien says. "The real message is the importance of family. To show a bond -- that's our subliminal message."
