Grieving Family Is Given Free Flight to Funeral

There are still a few good Samaritans left. Jack O’Brien is one of them.

After reading that Michael and Bernardo Pires Jr. of Lake Forest had been killed in a motorcycle accident last week, O’Brien arranged with his employer, American Airlines, to help the grieving and financially strapped family return to their native Boston to bury their loved ones.

Through O’Brien, the airline has agreed to contribute almost $6,000 in first-class, round-trip airline tickets for the immediate family and has provided cut-rate fares so that two relatives from Texas may join them in Massachusetts today to begin preparations.

“It’s no big deal,” said O’Brien, who lives in San Juan Capistrano and has been an American Airlines pilot for 25 years. “It’s just a humanitarian gesture. These folks just don’t have any money.”

O’Brien said that when he called the Pires family with the news Monday, Marilyn Pires, mother of the two victims, burst into tears.

“She could hardly talk,” he said. “She had to call back.”

When she did call back, Pires was overwhelmed with gratitude.

“I am just very happy,” she said. “It’s been a very hard time. It’s a sad time for us. That someone has seen how badly we’re having it. . . . We’re very grateful for everything.”

After learning of the accident last week, O’Brien spoke to the airline’s corporate communications office, and “they jumped right into the fray,” he said.

“We can’t bring back their sons, but at least we can take some of the pressure off them,” said O’Brien’s wife, Helene. “They had a lot of stumbling blocks.”

She said she was struck by the deaths of Michael, 30, and his brother Bernardo, 28, and brought the news to the attention of her husband.

“For the grace of God. . . . We feel so fortunate; we have our two daughters,” she said.

Last Thursday, the brothers were riding around on a motorcycle in search of a good fishing spot for their father when they collided with a van.

The driver of the van was southbound on Elrond Lane near Ridge Route Drive in Lake Forest and reportedly did not see the Pireses’ motorcycle approaching in the opposite direction, authorities said. The driver was attempting to turn onto Ridge Route Drive, just a few blocks from the Pireses’ apartment, when the accident occurred. No charges had been filed in the case Monday.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of hardships experienced by the family in recent years. After losing jobs in Massachusetts, the family moved to Orange County two years ago. Recently, Bernardo and Michael, who is survived by four children, had been unable to find work.

At the Pireses’ home Monday, family members seemed to find some relief in the gift provided by the airline.

“We had exhausted every means,” Marilyn Pires said. “I spoke to every veteran administrator and even the Red Cross. This has been the biggest break for us.”