Eugenie (Jean) Marley O'Leary was born at midnight on 31 December 1909 to Ellen “Dillon” (Sheahy) Marley age 34 and William Marley age 31 in Manhattan, New York. Her Father was born in Great Britain and fought in the Boar War (1899 - 1902), after which he immigrated to the United States. There he met Ellen Dillon who was born in Ireland, a widow with two children, Ellen T Sheahy, born 1894 and Frank D Sheahy, born 1896. William and Ellen married and had four daughters. Eugenie (Jean) was the oldest, followed by Bessie in 1913, Catherine in 1915 and Eva K. in 1916. Jean’s mother died about 1925 leaving her father to raise the four girls in Manhattan, New York. Jean attended Sacred Heart Academy, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side at East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. After graduating, Jean went to work for Time magazine in New York City.
In 1929 Jean married William O’Leary who worked for the Jersey Journal newspaper in Jersey City. They had one child together, Coni who was born on 2 March 1931. In the mid-1930s they moved out of New York to West Englewood, New Jersey. William O’Leary died of leukemia 30 March 1940, leaving Jean to support herself and nine-year-old Coni. Jean moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, taking employment as a secretary to Asa Smith Bushnell III, executive director of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (later a component of the NCAA) in Manhattan. At the same time Jean applied for work with the federal government. In early 1941 she gained a position relocating to Washington D.C. living in a rooming house off Connecticut Avenue, near Chevy Chase Circle, in upper Northwest D.C. On 12 March Jean began work in the typing pool of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
In the spring of 1941 O'Leary's secretarial skills caught Colonel Groves' attention while he was working on the Pentagon construction project. Groves had a reputation for his brisk treatment of secretaries, and his first encounter with O'Leary was no exception. She responded to his stern, teasing sense of humor in kind and then refused to speak to him at all. She was not afraid of his rank, his position, or his treatment of others. While most men of his rank would have been offended, Groves respected people who stood up to him; normally, it showed a person with some courage and character.
In June 1941, Jean was assigned to Groves. Her secretarial and managerial skills soon made her invaluable, and the two worked together very well. When Groves assumed control of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, he and Mrs. O'Leary moved to two small offices on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building.
Those who had frequent contact with General Groves throughout the Project began to refer to Jean as Major O'Leary. She was responsible for running the office and helped keep the General's busy work schedule organized. She would remind him of important appointments and phone calls and composed letters on his behalf herself. If he was not around, sometimes she would sign them herself.
O'Leary was also the only secretary permitted to take notes on the deliberations of the Military Policy Committee, the Combined Development Trust, and other important groups that came to meet Groves in his office. On a number of occasions, Groves sent Mrs. O'Leary on trips to Oak Ridge, TN; Hanford, WA; and Los Alamos, NM to meet with Project officials and sometimes even used her as a courier to carry top secret information.
After the war Jean continued with her duties in General Groves' office until the Atomic Energy Commission was establish removing control of nuclear weapons and design from the Manhattan Engineering Districts military control to this civilian controlled commission. Afterward Jean continued her administrative assistant function with other disciplines within the federal government.
Jean was 73 years, 9 months, 12 days old when she passed and was laid to rest with her husband William at the Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey located in Block 11, Section B, Grave 166
Sources:
Ancestry.com; Census records
Publication “Racing for the Bomb”, by Robert “Stan” Norris, p.194-196.
Atomic Heritage Foundation web site profile:
https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/jean-m-oleary
Image source: National Archives and Records Administration
Confirmation 30 March 2018 with Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ, Jean is interred with her husband William who passed in 1940.
In 1929 Jean married William O’Leary who worked for the Jersey Journal newspaper in Jersey City. They had one child together, Coni who was born on 2 March 1931. In the mid-1930s they moved out of New York to West Englewood, New Jersey. William O’Leary died of leukemia 30 March 1940, leaving Jean to support herself and nine-year-old Coni. Jean moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, taking employment as a secretary to Asa Smith Bushnell III, executive director of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (later a component of the NCAA) in Manhattan. At the same time Jean applied for work with the federal government. In early 1941 she gained a position relocating to Washington D.C. living in a rooming house off Connecticut Avenue, near Chevy Chase Circle, in upper Northwest D.C. On 12 March Jean began work in the typing pool of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
In the spring of 1941 O'Leary's secretarial skills caught Colonel Groves' attention while he was working on the Pentagon construction project. Groves had a reputation for his brisk treatment of secretaries, and his first encounter with O'Leary was no exception. She responded to his stern, teasing sense of humor in kind and then refused to speak to him at all. She was not afraid of his rank, his position, or his treatment of others. While most men of his rank would have been offended, Groves respected people who stood up to him; normally, it showed a person with some courage and character.
In June 1941, Jean was assigned to Groves. Her secretarial and managerial skills soon made her invaluable, and the two worked together very well. When Groves assumed control of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, he and Mrs. O'Leary moved to two small offices on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building.
Those who had frequent contact with General Groves throughout the Project began to refer to Jean as Major O'Leary. She was responsible for running the office and helped keep the General's busy work schedule organized. She would remind him of important appointments and phone calls and composed letters on his behalf herself. If he was not around, sometimes she would sign them herself.
O'Leary was also the only secretary permitted to take notes on the deliberations of the Military Policy Committee, the Combined Development Trust, and other important groups that came to meet Groves in his office. On a number of occasions, Groves sent Mrs. O'Leary on trips to Oak Ridge, TN; Hanford, WA; and Los Alamos, NM to meet with Project officials and sometimes even used her as a courier to carry top secret information.
After the war Jean continued with her duties in General Groves' office until the Atomic Energy Commission was establish removing control of nuclear weapons and design from the Manhattan Engineering Districts military control to this civilian controlled commission. Afterward Jean continued her administrative assistant function with other disciplines within the federal government.
Jean was 73 years, 9 months, 12 days old when she passed and was laid to rest with her husband William at the Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey located in Block 11, Section B, Grave 166
Sources:
Ancestry.com; Census records
Publication “Racing for the Bomb”, by Robert “Stan” Norris, p.194-196.
Atomic Heritage Foundation web site profile:
https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/jean-m-oleary
Image source: National Archives and Records Administration
Confirmation 30 March 2018 with Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ, Jean is interred with her husband William who passed in 1940.
Eugenie (Jean) Marley O'Leary was born at midnight on 31 December 1909 to Ellen “Dillon” (Sheahy) Marley age 34 and William Marley age 31 in Manhattan, New York. Her Father was born in Great Britain and fought in the Boar War (1899 - 1902), after which he immigrated to the United States. There he met Ellen Dillon who was born in Ireland, a widow with two children, Ellen T Sheahy, born 1894 and Frank D Sheahy, born 1896. William and Ellen married and had four daughters. Eugenie (Jean) was the oldest, followed by Bessie in 1913, Catherine in 1915 and Eva K. in 1916. Jean’s mother died about 1925 leaving her father to raise the four girls in Manhattan, New York. Jean attended Sacred Heart Academy, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side at East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. After graduating, Jean went to work for Time magazine in New York City.
In 1929 Jean married William O’Leary who worked for the Jersey Journal newspaper in Jersey City. They had one child together, Coni who was born on 2 March 1931. In the mid-1930s they moved out of New York to West Englewood, New Jersey. William O’Leary died of leukemia 30 March 1940, leaving Jean to support herself and nine-year-old Coni. Jean moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, taking employment as a secretary to Asa Smith Bushnell III, executive director of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (later a component of the NCAA) in Manhattan. At the same time Jean applied for work with the federal government. In early 1941 she gained a position relocating to Washington D.C. living in a rooming house off Connecticut Avenue, near Chevy Chase Circle, in upper Northwest D.C. On 12 March Jean began work in the typing pool of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
In the spring of 1941 O'Leary's secretarial skills caught Colonel Groves' attention while he was working on the Pentagon construction project. Groves had a reputation for his brisk treatment of secretaries, and his first encounter with O'Leary was no exception. She responded to his stern, teasing sense of humor in kind and then refused to speak to him at all. She was not afraid of his rank, his position, or his treatment of others. While most men of his rank would have been offended, Groves respected people who stood up to him; normally, it showed a person with some courage and character.
In June 1941, Jean was assigned to Groves. Her secretarial and managerial skills soon made her invaluable, and the two worked together very well. When Groves assumed control of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, he and Mrs. O'Leary moved to two small offices on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building.
Those who had frequent contact with General Groves throughout the Project began to refer to Jean as Major O'Leary. She was responsible for running the office and helped keep the General's busy work schedule organized. She would remind him of important appointments and phone calls and composed letters on his behalf herself. If he was not around, sometimes she would sign them herself.
O'Leary was also the only secretary permitted to take notes on the deliberations of the Military Policy Committee, the Combined Development Trust, and other important groups that came to meet Groves in his office. On a number of occasions, Groves sent Mrs. O'Leary on trips to Oak Ridge, TN; Hanford, WA; and Los Alamos, NM to meet with Project officials and sometimes even used her as a courier to carry top secret information.
After the war Jean continued with her duties in General Groves' office until the Atomic Energy Commission was establish removing control of nuclear weapons and design from the Manhattan Engineering Districts military control to this civilian controlled commission. Afterward Jean continued her administrative assistant function with other disciplines within the federal government.
Jean was 73 years, 9 months, 12 days old when she passed and was laid to rest with her husband William at the Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey located in Block 11, Section B, Grave 166
Sources:
Ancestry.com; Census records
Publication “Racing for the Bomb”, by Robert “Stan” Norris, p.194-196.
Atomic Heritage Foundation web site profile:
https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/jean-m-oleary
Image source: National Archives and Records Administration
Confirmation 30 March 2018 with Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ, Jean is interred with her husband William who passed in 1940.
In 1929 Jean married William O’Leary who worked for the Jersey Journal newspaper in Jersey City. They had one child together, Coni who was born on 2 March 1931. In the mid-1930s they moved out of New York to West Englewood, New Jersey. William O’Leary died of leukemia 30 March 1940, leaving Jean to support herself and nine-year-old Coni. Jean moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, taking employment as a secretary to Asa Smith Bushnell III, executive director of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (later a component of the NCAA) in Manhattan. At the same time Jean applied for work with the federal government. In early 1941 she gained a position relocating to Washington D.C. living in a rooming house off Connecticut Avenue, near Chevy Chase Circle, in upper Northwest D.C. On 12 March Jean began work in the typing pool of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
In the spring of 1941 O'Leary's secretarial skills caught Colonel Groves' attention while he was working on the Pentagon construction project. Groves had a reputation for his brisk treatment of secretaries, and his first encounter with O'Leary was no exception. She responded to his stern, teasing sense of humor in kind and then refused to speak to him at all. She was not afraid of his rank, his position, or his treatment of others. While most men of his rank would have been offended, Groves respected people who stood up to him; normally, it showed a person with some courage and character.
In June 1941, Jean was assigned to Groves. Her secretarial and managerial skills soon made her invaluable, and the two worked together very well. When Groves assumed control of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, he and Mrs. O'Leary moved to two small offices on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building.
Those who had frequent contact with General Groves throughout the Project began to refer to Jean as Major O'Leary. She was responsible for running the office and helped keep the General's busy work schedule organized. She would remind him of important appointments and phone calls and composed letters on his behalf herself. If he was not around, sometimes she would sign them herself.
O'Leary was also the only secretary permitted to take notes on the deliberations of the Military Policy Committee, the Combined Development Trust, and other important groups that came to meet Groves in his office. On a number of occasions, Groves sent Mrs. O'Leary on trips to Oak Ridge, TN; Hanford, WA; and Los Alamos, NM to meet with Project officials and sometimes even used her as a courier to carry top secret information.
After the war Jean continued with her duties in General Groves' office until the Atomic Energy Commission was establish removing control of nuclear weapons and design from the Manhattan Engineering Districts military control to this civilian controlled commission. Afterward Jean continued her administrative assistant function with other disciplines within the federal government.
Jean was 73 years, 9 months, 12 days old when she passed and was laid to rest with her husband William at the Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey located in Block 11, Section B, Grave 166
Sources:
Ancestry.com; Census records
Publication “Racing for the Bomb”, by Robert “Stan” Norris, p.194-196.
Atomic Heritage Foundation web site profile:
https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/jean-m-oleary
Image source: National Archives and Records Administration
Confirmation 30 March 2018 with Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ, Jean is interred with her husband William who passed in 1940.
