Eileen Ellen O’Brien Sikes, age 78, of Orlando, Florida, passed away peacefully September 9, 2022. Eileen was the daughter of James Weston O’Brien and Norma Louise King O’Brien and was born on April 9, 1944 in Victoria, Texas, where her father was serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
She spent her childhood in Levittown and Hicksville, New York. After graduating from Hicksville High School, she attended the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she earned a degree in education. While on a summer internship in Washington, D.C. she met her husband Jim, and they married in 1967. Before they became parents, Eileen taught elementary school in Maryland and Arkansas, then stayed home to raise her children while they were young. She made the decision to switch careers, and graduated from nursing school in 1983. She worked at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and Dr. P. Phillips Hospital (formerly Sand Lake Hospital) in Orlando. She then spent a few years working in retail before she fully retired. Over the years Eileen and Jim were blessed with five children and lived with them in Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri before finally settling in Orlando.
Eileen was an avid reader and a lover of animals. She was very close with her parents and was grateful for the move to Orlando, which enabled her to help care for them in their final years. She enjoyed movies, live performances, and traveling. In her later years she still enjoyed going on local outings with family members. She attended St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. Eileen was always very outgoing and seemed to make friends wherever she went, whether it was with neighbors, coworkers, the waitstaff at her favorite restaurants, or even her medical care givers.
Eileen was preceded in death by her parents, her younger brother James O’Brien, and her husband Jim after they had been married for 52 years. She is survived by her daughters Amy Gerdel (Vernon), of Moselle, Missouri, Rebecca Flanagan (Scott), Kathleen Sikes, and Elizabeth Sikes, all of Orlando, and her son James. Grandchildren include Kasey Kroeck, Kyle Kroeck, Maelina Gerdel, Madaline Gerdel, all of Missouri; Brennan Flanagan and J.D. Sikes, both of Orlando; and one great-grandchild, Everly Gerdel, of Missouri.