Quincy's Evelyn Kiley, 84, says she has a story to tell. Here's why

QUINCY − Evelyn O'Neil Kiley is a practical woman. She had to be, growing up in a family of 12 children, with nine sisters and two brothers, in South Boston and Jamaica Plain. She is also filled with positive energy.

From an early age, she was accustomed to standing in line each morning, waiting for her turn to use the single bathroom while their father, Daniel, got breakfast ready for everyone after he called out, "All hands on deck!"

She also learned to listen to her mother, Julia, who would hear the inevitable arguing among siblings and call out, "Make up. Say you're sorry and shake hands," until they did.

Here we are, more than 80 years later, and she credits those early experiences in a large cooperative family as an important key to success in her life.

As she nears her 85th birthday on Aug. 31, Evelyn Kiley wants to tell her story "while I can still remember it." A good rule of thumb.

"May I share the journey of life and amazing lessons learned growing up in a family of 12, 10 sisters and 2 brothers," she emailed. "Getting married young to my high school sweetheart, Bill. The adventures we’ve shared, the lessons of meeting with people all over the world who are just like us in so many ways."

Mom-made 10 matching outfits for Boston's Easter parade

Evelyn, born in 1939, was one of the 10 O'Neil sisters who from 1941 to 1958 were famed for walking together in homemade matching outfits in Boston's annual Easter Parade. Newsreel footage of the girls even made it overseas to servicemen in World War II.

The Boston Easter Parade, also known as the Easter Promenade, has been described as a tradition of families wearing their best Easter outfits and matching with each other to walk along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston's Back Bay.

Their father, Daniel O'Neil, a onetime member of Boston Police Mounted Unit, first got the idea when he watched the parade while on duty. Their mother, Julia, a native of Madeira Island in Portugal, got hold of some bolts of fabric and made their identical outfit from McCall's patterns, different each year.

"We all helped," Evelyn said. "We'd each sew buttons on. Every day was like that, about helping out, and working, and doing and laughing."

Life Magazine, Ed Sullivan and Arthur Fiedler came calling

Jane, the oldest, learned to play guitar; Diane played the piano; all sang and tap-danced and were onstage in many Boston and New York charity shows. They appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" when he came to Hancock Hall in Boston. Life Magazine featured them in 1952 and their mother was interviewed on "The Dave Garroway Show" in 1954. And Evelyn recalls appearing at a Fourth of July celebration with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.

They shared their Life Magazine appearance with Marilyn Monroe. The April 7, 1952, issue featured one of the magazine’s most iconic covers − a photograph of a young Marilyn Monroe − and the story inside showed how the O’Neil family each worked on the matching outfits for Easter.

“OperationEaster took over the whole house of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel O’Neil,” Life reported. “There, amid the urgent clatter of an electric sewing machine and the psst of wet fingers on hot irons, the entire family was engaged in the monumental task of turning out almost identical Easter outfits.

“Mrs. O’Neil sewed, the biggest girls ironed, the middle-sized girls attached buttons and the smallest girls attached basting thread and retrieved dropped thimbles.”

Life Pictures photographer Nina Leen captured the preparations in the O'Neil home in 1952. The O'Neil family tradition ended when their father, Daniel, died in 1959.

Here's why she wants to tell her story

Their story has such a positive message in these fraught times that Evelyn feels a responsibility to tell it. Of the 10 O'Neil sisters, seven are still alive, and three have memory loss issues.

"I have the facts and the ability to present them, so I've got to do my job," she said.

"Our parents instilled the values of always helping others. One of the mantras was, 'Do something good for someone else each day.' Our lives were about always giving and understanding, and you got rewarded in ways you never dreamed possible.

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"We were taught there was always someone who needed help and that just helped us our entire lives. If something bad happens, you make the best of it, and it comes back in good ways you never dreamed of."

The two brothers, Lawrence, the oldest of 12, and Daniel, the youngest of 12, both died of cancer, in 1990 and 2010, respectively. The oldest sister, Jane O'Neil Deery, of Quincy, died at age 80 in 2012. Barbara O'Neil Wampole, of South Boston, has also passed, and Diane O'Neil Nessar died in 2019 at age 83 in Quincy.

Mom made every chore into a fun-filled contest and they bit

When the O’Neil sisters were growing up, to prevent chaos their mother made everything into a contest.

"We would get in a circle and draw lots for who would put away clothes on the long clothesline, who could fold them the fastest. ... She always said that no matter what you do, you should have fun doing it.”

Evelyn married her high school sweetheart, Bill Kiley, a Boston police officer, in 1957. They have six children,16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, with a fifth due soon. They both worked in his real estate business, Kiley Real Estate, specializing in fixer-uppers in South Boston, and in retirement enjoyed travel including bicycle trips in China and Vietnam.

All the sisters have been youthful and vibrant into their later years, and Evelyn said that in their 40s, they all rode their bikes together from Quincy to Lakeville just for fun.

"We'd say, 'Let's make it happen because we can,' and then we'd all go back to somebody’s house and would just sit around the table, talking and laughing.”

The other six remaining O'Neil sisters are Maureen Cloonan, of Sagamore Beach; Virginia O'Neil, of Jamaica Plain; Mary June Hanrahan, of ­Milwaukee; Julie O’Neil, of Cambridge; Danielle McGreal, of Marshfield; and Frances Cummings, of Florida.

Evelyn's parting words: "Be positive. If you have a fight, or something turns negative, get beyond it and remember the happy things in every life."

Other sisters rememberSPITZ: Memories of Easters past

Remembering Lillian Haritos, who made it to 106

A fond farewell to Lillian Haritos, formerly of Quincy, who died at age 106 on July 16 at Hebrew Senior Life in Boston. She was an amazing centenarian who managed to pack six more years into her life after I met her when she was 100 as she did her housework and moved furniture around her apartment in North Quincy.

Joel Davidson, a Quincy attorney who helped her, paid tribute: "Lillian was a fighter, very independent, and was proud that she could speak some French. I loved visiting her and helping her. She will be missed."

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.