May 3, 2008      

FELTS MILLS, N.Y.  —  John "Jack" O’Connor, 75, of School St., died Friday in the emergency room at Samaritan Medical Center. 

A prayer service will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 6, at the Reed & Benoit Funeral Home, Watertown, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Black River with Rev. Andrew R. Mulvaney, pastor, officiating.  Graveside services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday  in Glenwood Cemetery.  

Calling hours will be 2 to 4 and 6 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, May 5, at the Reed &Benoit Funeral Home. 

Contributions may be made to the Black River Ambulance Squad or to St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Black River. 

Born Dec. 12, 1932, in Ogdensburg, a son of G.W. “Bill” and Ruth Murphy O’Connor, he graduated from Immaculate Heart Academy in 1950.  Following graduation, he joined the Air Force in April of 1951, serving in Northern Africa until honorably discharged with the rank of staff sergeant in December 1953. 

He married Marian K. Oberton on June 5, 1954, at St. Patrick’s Church, Watertown, with Rev. William Coffey officiating. 

Mr. O’Connor worked for AT&T, New York Telephone, NYNEX and Verizon from 1955 until retiring in 1988 as garage foreman. After his retirement from Verizon, he formed J. & Co., a vehicle transportation company for Verizon, turning it over to his son, Michael, in 1994.  

He served as vice president of the O’Connor Burial Vault Co. on Cook Rd., Watertown for many years. 

Mr. O'Connor was a founding and life member of the Barnes Corners Snow Pals snowmobiling club and enjoyed riding with his grandchildren.  He enjoyed camping, hunting and reading. He was a member of St. Paul’s of Black River and St. Rita’s in Deferiet Catholic churches. He was a member of the Black River American Legion Post 673, Telephone Pioneers and had spent the past 5 winters in Lake Okeechobee, Fla. 

Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons and a daughter-in-law, Michael and his companion, Linda Mellen, Carthage, and Patrick and Nancy, Evans Mills; eight grandchildren, a great-grandson; a brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Ellen, Watertown; three sisters and two brother-in-laws, Irene O’Connor, E. Amherst, Mary and Dan Lynch, Grand Island, and Kathleen and Douglas Salmon, Sun City Center, Fla.; several nieces and nephews. 





Information provided by Reed and Benoit Funeral Home and Newzjunky, Watertown, N.Y.