Marlboro - Reba Theresa O'Connor Greene passed away peacefully Monday, May 16, 2011 in Marlboro, Vermont, attended by her family. Born December 12, 1919, in Augusta, Georgia, she was the youngest and last surviving child of Daniel Patrick and Volumnia (Benson) O'Connor. The economic and social comfort into which she was born had largely faded by the time she attended the University of Georgia. However, she retained the intangible wealth of her traditional Irish Catholic upbringing: an unshakeable faith, a clear moral vision, fierce dedication to her family, a strict code of etiquette, and reverence for language used with refinement. Those were the high standards to which she held herself, and the inheritance she passed to her own children. To those gifts, she added her own sharp wit, unfailing courtesy, and finely observed appreciation of every individual she met. She married the love of her life, Lieutenant James Barrow Greene, as he left to serve in the Army Air Corps in 1942. They raised their five children, Blanche, James Jr., Daniel, Mary, and Rebecca, as she accompanied him through a thirty-year Air Force career, with assignments in Indianapolis, Washington DC, Ottawa, and Omaha. His last assignment, as Air Attaché of the United States to Rome, Italy, was the great middle act of Reba's life. She was a diplomat's wife, hostess, and dedicated and fluent student of the Italian language. It was a position she was born for. Colonel Greene retired to a second career in the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin, the family's home for the next forty years. Active and engaged, she was studying Spanish and driving to Tai Chi classes past her ninetieth birthday. In frailer health, she moved to her daughter Mary's Marlboro home earlier this year. Colonel Greene died in 2003, after several years in his wife's loving and tireless care. Their daughter Blanche died in 1974. She is survived by her children and nine grandchildren:¬ Deirdre Shields, Sarah Greene, Anne Greene, Blanche Greene-Cramer, Rebecca Greene-Cramer, Oliver Greene-Cramer, Charles Greene-Cramer, Mary Margaret Kunz, and Bridget Kunz. A Mass of Christian burial will be held Friday at 1:00 PM at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Brattleboro, Vermont. She will be laid to rest with her husband at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in Texas. Memorial contributions in Mrs. Greene's name may be made to, Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church, 47 Walnut Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 or to, the Brattleboro Music Center 38 Walnut Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301.