By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
The St. Patrick’s Day Committee will bestow its Irishman of the Year award on a public-spirited steward of West Haven’s Irish-American community during the city’s 24th annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.
To the sound of Celtic music played by bagpipers and drummers, members of the Police Department and West Shore Fire Department emerald societies will escort former New Haven police Cmdr. and U.S. Marshal John R. O’Connor, a first-generation Irish-American, to the Campbell Avenue side of City Hall at noon March 17.
“I consider this a tremendous honor based upon the recipients who were previously selected for this recognition,” said O’Connor, grand marshal of the 1988 Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade, who will toast his Irish lineage with dozens of his closest friends and relatives, joined by a passel of shamrock-clad dignitaries and descendants of folks from the Emerald Isle.
O’Connor, who was born in New Haven but has lived in West Haven for the past half-century, said the timing of the award holds exceptional significance for his clan.
O’Connor said it was 90 years ago this month when his mother, the former Susanna Reynolds, who was 16 years old at the time, departed her home in the town of Mohill in County Leitrim, Ireland, in search of a more hopeful future in America.
“My mother came to this country with the understanding that any opportunity could be achieved,” said O’Connor, who traces the forebears of his New Haven-born father, John Patrick O’Connor, to County Cork.
The committee will fete O’Connor by hanging a green street sign that designates City Hall’s Campbell Avenue entrance “John R. O’Connor Square” for a year. Last year’s awardee, Dorinda Keenan Borer, will take home her sign at the outset of the ceremony.
The special recognition is given annually to an Irish resident, or couple, of the year who epitomizes service in the city’s sizable Irish-American community.
The committee comprises the lifeblood of West Haven’s Irish-American society, including members of the Irish-American Club and former honorees, as well as former and current city, fire and police officials, Chairwoman Joanne Conlan said.
O’Connor, 74, hails from an ancestry that has woven many threads of green into the red, white and blue.
For over two centuries, Irish-Americans have defended the U.S. through times of war, have strengthened communities from coast to coast, and have poured sweat and blood into building the nation’s infrastructure. Their journey is a testament to the resilience of the Irish character, a people who never stopped dreaming of a brighter future and who never stopped striving to make that dream a reality.
O’Connor’s civic-minded acts are steeped in his commitment to the area’s deep-rooted Irish-American community.
He is a long-standing member of the executive board of the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. He has been a member of the Knights of St. Patrick since 1970, serving as president in 1978, and a member of the West Haven Irish-American Club since 1988.
O’Connor was the Knights’ Law Enforcement Person of the Year in 1991, the Irish-American Club’s Community Person of the Year in 1994 and the Jimmy Fund’s Civic Person of the Year in 1995. He received the U.S. Attorneys Award for Distinguished Service in 2002.
Mayor Edward M. O’Brien lauded O’Connor, a parishioner of Our Lady of Victory Church for 45 years, for his dedication to public safety and volunteerism.
“Our diverse country has been shaped by the sacrifices and successes of those who crossed both land and sea in pursuit of a common dream. For millions of Americans, this journey began in Ireland,” O’Brien said. “On St. Patrick’s Day, we reflect on proud traditions handed down through the generations, and we celebrate the myriad contributions Irish-Americans, such as John O’Connor, have made to enrich the fabric of our city and our nation.”
O’Brien will present O’Connor with an Irish flag and a mayoral proclamation citing his meritorious good works.
O’Connor, a member of the Democratic Town Committee whom O’Brien appointed last year to serve on the Housing Authority, will also receive a jacket embroidered with his new title: Irishman of the Year.
The rich culture of Ireland touches all aspects of American society, including in West Haven where it continues to flourish because of celebrations honoring Erin’s patron saint.
The New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes and Drums will lead the opening procession, followed by remarks from master of ceremonies David Coyle.
The Rev. Mark R. Jette, who serves St. Lawrence and St. Paul churches, will offer an Irish blessing. Members of the West Haven High School choral department will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Irish national anthem, “Soldier’s Song,” followed by a greeting from O’Brien.
Accompanied by his wife of 50 years, the former Barbara Abate, and his daughters, Debra and Lisa O’Connor, both of West Haven, O’Connor will then pull off a shroud unveiling the rectangular sign.
His older sisters, Susanna Bowery, of Hamden, and Joan Weber, of West Haven, are also expected to attend. His younger brother, Francis O’Connor, lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
A corned beef and cabbage lunch will follow in the community room of City Hall, 355 Main St.
Raised in New Haven’s Cedar Hill neighborhood, John O’Connor and his siblings were the beneficiaries of a traditional Irish Catholic upbringing in which heritage and religion were of paramount importance.
In addition to Catholicism, O’Connor’s hardworking parents were proponents of the public school system, believing that children received “a more well-rounded education.”
His father was as an accountant for the Connecticut Co., and his mother was a domestic servant for a prominent Elm City family.
The Connecticut Co., formed in 1907, was the primary electric street railway company in the state at the time, operating both city and rural trolleys before transitioning to buses. It was controlled by The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co. of New Haven, which also controlled most steam railroads in Connecticut.
A 1958 alumnus of Wilbur Cross High School, O’Connor graduated from the New Haven Police Academy in 1964, the state’s attorney’s law enforcement training school in 1967 and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics Academy in 1968.
O’Connor’s Irish values and Catholic faith helped light the way for a sterling career in local and federal law enforcement that spanned almost four decades.
He was a highly regarded member of New Haven Police Department for 27 years, attaining every progressive rank before retiring as a commander in 1991.
O’Connor, however, was perhaps best known for overseeing the police detail at the old New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where he stood sentry for countless concerts and Nighthawks hockey games.
The approachable and likeable O’Connor excelled at helping people and making them feel comfortable. As an ambassador of goodwill, he served the department well.
Fittingly, he was commended on numerous occasions by the Board of Police Commissioners and civic organizations for exemplary police service and community service.
After the police force, O’Connor stepped up his role at the Coliseum and served as director of security for two years.
In 1994, O’Connor was appointed by then-President Bill Clinton to lead the U.S. Marshals Service for the district of Connecticut.
During his nearly 10-year tenure, O’Connor’s federal post extended across both sides of the aisle in Congress, an extraordinary feat that exemplifies his integrity and devotion to public service.
He served under the Democratic Clinton administration for six years, followed by a stint under then-Republican President George W. Bush.
O’Connor retired from the Marshals Service in October 2003.
In January 2004, he was named executive assistant to then-West Haven Mayor H. Richard Borer Jr. and served the Democratic administration for two years.
Three years later, O’Connor sat on the Connecticut State Police Review Panel, which made recommendations to improve the efficiency of the internal affairs division.
He was appointed to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2008 by then-Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and served for five years.