Marblehead…..

John C. O'Connor age 63 beloved husband for 14 happy years of Leona A. (April) O'Connor of Marblehead , died Saturday in the E.N. Rogers Memorial Veteran's Hospital, Bedford following a long, courageous battle with cancer.
Born in Lawrence, MA, the son of the late Frank and Alice (Horgan) O'Connor, he was a 1963 graduate of Andover High School. While in high school he was a member of the Winter and Spring Track Teams for two years, earning four letters and holding two school records, one of which lasted nearly forty years. He was also a two year member of the school's varsity club.

He then attended Milton College until joining the Army during the Viet Nam War in September of 1965. He was stationed overseas for 13 months in Korea and was the recipient of the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. He was a member of the Veteran's of Foreign War Post 2128 in Andover where he held the post of Junior Vice Commander, Senior Vice Commander and for two years, Post Commander. He was also a member of the American Legion.

Following his discharge in September of 1968, Mr. O'Connor continued his educated and received his B.S. Degree from North Essex Community College in Haverhill and also attended Merrimack College.

In 1973 Mr. O'Connor became employed by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Construction Grant Program and in 1974 received two awards for helping to disburse previously withheld PL 84-660 Limited Grant Federal Funds. In 1980 he was assigned to the Inspector General Office and in 1987 was again was recognized for his work and received the Office of Inspector General Award for his work on the U.S. Virgin Islands Special Review. In 1989 he returned to the Municipal Assistant State Revolving Fund until his retirement in 2004.

An avid sports fan, he coached in the Andover Junior Football League for 17 as a head coach and had received and award in 1989 for his coaching. He had also enjoyed assisting in the officiating of the Andover Invitational Track Meet and the Phillips Andover High School track meets. He was also a Boston College Sports fan and had contributed annually to the Boston College William J. Flynn Fund.

In addition to his wife, Mr. O'Connor is survived by a step daughter, Janet Ann Forman of Marblehead and two beautiful grandchildren Blake and Alexandra Forman of Marblehead; four sisters Mary Sear, Jane Franz, Alice Josephs and Nancy Stolberg.

His funeral will be held on Wednesday at 9:15 A.M. from the Murphy Funeral Home, 85 Federal St. (cor of North St) Salem to be followed by a funeral service at 10:00 A.M. in St. Anne Church, 290 Jefferson Ave., Salem. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. Visiting hours will be Tuesday from 5 to 8P.M. Interment will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Salem. Those who wish may make memorial contributions to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, 6th floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7226, ATTN: Contribution Services. For more information and on line guest book please visit www.MurphyFuneralHome.com or call 978 744 0497.