Yesterday’s blog was the obituary of Ann O'Connor of
Syracuse , New
York
In June 1960 I rejoined my parents who had moved from Pittsfield , Massachusetts
to Syracuse , New York Pittsfield
to complete my junior year in high school. And yes, moving to a small community
(East Syracuse , New York
At any rate, during my senior year of high school, I met
Bill Bronner who lived one block from our home in East
Syracuse . On weekends Bill would join friends of his from his days
living in Syracuse before Urban Renewal knocked
down a lot of homes to build Interstate 80, the north/south highway connecting Canada to Tennessee
through the heart of central New York .
One of the last denizens of the old neighborhood to move out was Ann O'Connor.
Bill introduced me to Annie and the gang. We came to know
each other and to celebrate the turbulent times of maturing during the 1960’s
when John F. Kennedy succeeded Eisenhower in the White House, was assassinated in 1963, when Lyndon
Baines Johnson succeeded JFK, poorly administered the Vietnam War, was
succeeded by Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and
followed by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the same year.
Yes it was that era of unrest, tortuous public policy, Civil
Rights movement successes and drama, during the cluttered presence of war
protests against Vietnam
defense maneuvers. It was the years of the hippie, of free love, of Haight-Ashbury
in California .
It was the death of American social innocence and the birth of a truly more
open, accepting and intellectual American social order. Or maybe that’s just my
personal take while I aged from the teen years into my twenties. An
era it was, regardless of who you were. That period of social upheaval was a
time that changed lives and societies.
In that milieu I met Ann O'Connor. She had been crippled by
a cruel and unceasing attack of rheumatoid Arthritis when she was 15 and a
quadriplegic by 16. She graduated from
high school in her invalid bed at home. As tragic as that sounds, Ann’s
personality showed forth in remarkable ways. She was Roman Catholic. She was
deeply religious and faithful, but intellectually alive and resistant to dogma
that was ill supported. She took us on her intellectual journey of discovery in
all things theological, political, social and psychological. Deeply
intelligent, she was self educated after high school. I bet if she had been
mentored and assessed by university personnel, she would have earned at least a
master’s degree in life. Probably more like a PhD.
We discussed everything. History. American regionalism.
Economics, physics, math, sociology, politics and sex. Everything was on the
table. We discussed these things seriously but with humor and ease. It was a
remarkable thing to be a part of. My maturation from high school to college to
graduate school all came from this experience.
In unique ways Ann took charge of our growing up and adult
awareness of the world. We shared such personal things. Openness of the mind
and emotions were part of that experience. Traveling within the mind on a journey
of exploration shared with contemporaries was a joy I had not known before. It
set a standard I followed for many years and even to this day.
It is hard to fathom Ann’s death. We had not had any contact
for most of these past 40 years, Maybe even 50 years. But she was a part of me, still
is. Always will be.
Ann O'Connor was part of many lives and many minds. That’s
the kind of person she was. And is. She is finally free of her twisted,
deformed, painful body. But her mind continues to range free in the universe.
She said goodbye to life as we know it, but we have no need
to say good by to Ann. She is very much with us.
And that’s a wonderful thing!
January 20, 2015
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