The year 1940 had lots of snow and Easter looked like Christmas. July was full of heat waves and November had an early blizzard that brought much damage to the crops and cattle and cancellation of the Armistice Day parade. These were the quiet years of St. Patrick's as Monsignor never wrote down the daily happenings of the parish, because things were difficult and Europe was torn apart by war.

The Golden Stairs were named in 1941.

The graduating class of 1942 was the first to wear caps and gowns.

An entry in the Sisters' Chronicles of October, 1942 reads:

"An activity which is quite unique in a girls boarding school took place this year. In co-operation with the public school we entered the scrap day project. A free day was given to both schools for collecting scrap to help with the war economy project. A city lot was set aside for the center collection point and the teachers of the public school managed the weighing and tabulating of all scrap brought in by the children. How the children worked! The boarders were divided into squads with a leader to each squad; the day was an ideal one and in keeping with the spirit of youth a great deal of fun accompanied the strenuous efforts to haul the junk. We totaled over 115,000 pounds with an average of 500 pounds per capita in the High School. This entitled the High School to a flag offered by the World Herald of Omaha. The Senior Class and the Eighth grade had the highest class collection. They each received five dollars from the mayor. An appreciation program was held in the public school auditorium, which was a credit to O'Neill, and it's schools. The united bands of the tow schools which are under the same direction, Mr. Ira George, in uniforms, played while St. Mary's marched in from the west entrance. The children from both schools were in fine order and in high spirits; cheers were given, the two schools united in chorus, awarded were announced, etc., it was a real gala day with the outcome of arousing a feeling of pride in O'Neill with its population of so many children, a blessing from God."

On November 18, 1948, the Big Blizzard "the worst since '88" hit O'Neill. The Governor of Nebraska declared an emergency and the Fifth Army moved in to help. Sufferers were to leave signal marks in the snow, and places would alight to the rescue. The places arrived on skis with food, medicine, and fuel. Relative in O'Neill sent rescue planes out to rural people whose telephones and radios no longer functioned - and who might not know the distress signals. Stories of dire distress came back. Families were living in single rooms to conserve fuel; fence post and furniture were being used as fuel; some were out of food. St. Mary's Academy had reopened but only a few students could get to school and Monsignor was doing all he could to make things easier for those in dire need.

On September 30th, the city of O'Neill celebrated its Diamond Jubilee and St. Mary's float "Golden Jubilee Bells" rung by little angels won first place

In October, Monsignor was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Lynch. His health was improving, but on the Feast of All Souls, November 2, "Father Mac" passed away from this life to the next. The funeral was on Monday, November 7, at ten-thirty.

On December 19, 1949, Father Timothy O'Sullivan came from Jackson, Nebraska, to be the successor of Monsignor McNamara.