Paul O'Driscoll , died Jan. 6, He was 85, he served as a tail gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress "Pu

O'Driscoll recalled as respected businessman, storyteller | rgj.com | The Reno Gazette-Journal


Whether in the back of a B-17 nicknamed the "Purple Heart Kid" during World War II, the lunch counter at Woolworth in Park Lane Mall or around the kitchen table with his family, Paul O'Driscoll always had a story to tell.






"He was a fantastic storyteller," said longtime friend Leonard Mills. "He was a tremendous, caring, gentle man. He loved his family and his life revolved around his family."
O'Driscoll, one of the original merchants at Park Lane Mall, died Jan. 6 in Lynchburg, Va. He was 85.
A native of Berkeley, Calif., and educated in Berkeley schools, O'Driscoll entered the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and served as a tail gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress "Purple Heart Kid."
Still a teenager, O'Driscoll kept a daily diary of his experiences, many of which included the danger and the dry humor with which the young men of "The Greatest Generation" dealt with wartime.
On Jan. 20, 1945, the entry in his wartime diary read: "Hot target. I got a few gray hairs today; piece of flak came through my left window, shattered two-inch bulletproof glass. Lost oxygen mask. Trying to suck on straight hose. Waistgunner Ransom T. Senter yelling over intercom, 'Tailgunner, if you can hear me, wiggle that big butt of yours.' I wiggled."
The crew of the "Purple Heart Kid" flew 52 missions and 32 sorties out of Foggia, Italy, in 1944 and 1945.
After the war, O'Driscoll returned to Berkeley and married his high school sweetheart, Margaret Seeley Hutchins, in July 1947.
O'Driscoll began a retailing career with the F.W. Woolworth Co. in 1950, a career that brought him to Reno in the spring of 1967. He managed the Woolworth store in the new Park Lane Mall.
He, Margaret and their seven children settled in a house on California Avenue.
"Paul was a great guy," said Ken York, who owned Mount Rose Sporting Goods, two doors down from Woolworth at Park Lane. "There was a whole group of us that six or seven days a week had coffee at Woolworth every morning before the mall open. We'd sit around and laugh and tell stories. Paul was right in the middle of it."


O'Driscoll remained at Woolworth until his retirement in 1978.
"He was a well-respected business leader in the community," Mills said.



An artist and a music lover, he was active for years in the St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral choir. He was also a longtime member of the Mount Rose Lions Club.
But his great love was storytelling, including in three memoirs he self-published -- one on his war experience, another on his days at Woolworth and a third on his favorite uncle, Frank Vaudoit.
His wife, Margaret, died in 1990. The next year on a WWII reunion cruise, Paul fell in love again, with Betty Parman, a recent widow. They were married in 1992.
He is survived by his wife, Betty of Lynchburg; sons, Paul (Claire) of San Ramon, Calif., Patrick of Denver, Bill (Holly) and Mark (Richelle) of Reno, and John (Cindy) of Enterprise, Ala.; daughters, Ellen O'Driscoll Egan of Reno and Mary O'Driscoll (Perry Plumart) of Silver Spring, Md.; 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; and sisters, Marie O'Driscoll of Lafayette, Calif., and Cecelia Neff of Danville, Calif. He is also survived by stepchildren, Betty Bradley (Joe), Pamela Wayland (Thomas Statum), Jeanne Conley (Steve), Bill Parman (Karin) and Lisa Parman and their families, all of Virginia.
A memorial Mass was held Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral, 310 W. Second St., Reno. Burial will be in Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore.