Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. and Boston College virtual exhibit spring
2002 - burns library Education was important to the O'Neill
family. His brother William O'Neill attended Holy Cross College
and later went to Harvard Law School on a scholarship. He would
later enjoy a career as a lawyer, a judge and assistant attorney
general. Tip's sister Mary (O'Neill) Mulcahy started teaching at
the young age of seventeen. Ultimately, she would become the
first female principal of the Cambridge Public School System.
After graduating from St. John's High School in 1931, O'Neill
did not immediately set his sights on college. He got a job
driving a truck for a construction company. Three dollars a day
seemed like good money for a young man during the Great
Depression. He worked six days a week and socialized with
friends at Barry's Corner at night. In his autobiography,
O'Neill credits Sister Agatha, one of the nuns at St. John's,
for giving him the encouragement needed to go to college. She
saw him driving the truck and could