J. Norman O'Connor

Attorney J. Norman O'Connor, 83, of 44 Leonard St. Adams, and 1523 Wildwood Lane, Naples, Florida, a longtime Northern Berkshire lawyer, died early Tuesday morning at Naples Community Hospital in Naples, Florida, after being admitted Monday evening. He was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts on July 10, 1923, son of the late William and Alice (Poulin) O'Connor. He attended schools in Webster, MA and graduated from St. Louis High School there. He entered the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester in 1941, and enlisted in the US Marine Corps when World War II broke out, and was assigned to an accelerated 12 month officer training program at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Mr. O'Connor served with the US Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater, and saw combat on Saipan, Tarawa and Guam as a second lieutenant with the 5th Amphibious Corps. He was Honorably Discharged as a Captain in 1946. Following his military service, Mr. O'Connor returned to Webster and operated his own insurance agency in Putnam, CT. for several years. He then attended Boston College School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1953. Following his graduation from law school, Mr. O'Connor worked as a law clerk for former Justice Counihan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for a year. In 1954, he moved to Adams to join Walter J. Donovan in the practice of law, and eventually became a partner and formed Donovan & O'Connor Attorneys at Law. Mr. O'Connor was the active manager of the firm until 1998, when he decided to devote some of his time to the pursuit of other interests, including spending several of the winter months at his home in Naples and playing golf. He was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Attorneys and was a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The American Bar Foundation is an honorary organization of attorneys, judges and law professors whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership in the Fellows is limited to one third of one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by Fellows in their jurisdiction and elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation. He was a Life Member of the Massachusetts. Berkshire, and American Bar Associations, and was a member and Past President of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. He was a communicant of the Parish of Notre Dame and St. Thomas Aquinas, Adams, where he was a Lector for many years. He was a Life Member of Adams Post 160 American Legion and the Adams Lodge of Elks. He was a former Adams Town Meeting Member and a member of the Knights of Malta. While at Holy Cross, he was a member of the President's Council. Mr. O'Connor especially enjoyed spending time with his family and grandchildren. He was an advocate for education, and had participated in reading to school children in the Naples elementary schools. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, the former Betty Deary, whom he married on August 20, 1944; 2 sons - J. Norman O'Connor, Jr. and his wife, Christine, of Adams, and Thomas O'Connor and his wife, Claire, of Westport, CT; 5 Daughters - Maureen O'Connor Burgess and her husband, Hon. Brian Burgess, of Montpelier, VT; Marilou Lang and her husband, J. Michael Lang, of Plainville, CT; Susan O'Connor of Auburn, ME; Jane Mitchell and her husband, Michael of Merrimack, N.H. and Elizabeth O'Connor and her husband, Kevin Burke, of Gloucester, MA; 15 Grandchildren and 1 Great Grandchild. He was predeceased by a daughter, Colleen O'Connor, and by his brother, William O'Connor. The funeral for Atty. O'Connor will be held on Saturday, November 18th, at 11:00 AM from the PACIOREK FUNERAL HOME, 13 Hoosac St. Adams, MA 01220, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 12 Noon in St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Rte. 8, Adams, celebrated by Rev. Daniel J. Boyle, Pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Adams. Burial will follow in the family lot in Bellevue Cemetery, Adams. Calling hours are Friday from 4 to 7 PM at the Funeral Home. Memorial donations may be made to the Frank H. Wright Memorial Scholarship Fund (Checks payable to the Rose D. Wright Trust), in care of M. Dolores Braza, Trust Officer, Bank of America, One Monarch Place, 21st Floor, Springfield, MA 01144-1001. This is a scholarship fund benefiting Berkshire County law students.

J. Norman O'Connor

November 14, 1923 - November 14, 2006