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by Sue Orsen He steered a U.S. Navy ship through the Strait of Gibraltar in the dark of night and also through the Greek Isles. When he was off the coast of Turkey, maneuvering the ship in preparation for a NATO war game, he was handed a note that his baby son back home in Virginia would undergo surgery the next morning. Light years away, the stars in the night sky seemed closer than his family. He also navigated through oceanic hurricanes, always preparing for a war situation.
In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face While the storms howl above me, and there’s no hiding place.
It’s not unlike navigating in the 2016 mayoral race in the City of Victoria. Despite the personal sacrifices and assaults, Mayor Tom O’Connor feels the responsibility to remain at the helm for the sake of the citizens and the city. Besides that, he continues to enjoy the work. As on the Mediterranean and in the Caribbean, Tom has proven he has the training, the vision, and the skills to carry Victoria safely and successfully through the storms.
‘Mid the crash of the thunder, precious Lord, hear my cry; Keep me safe ‘til the storm passes by.
When Tom and Cathi O’Connor served together in the Peace Corps in 1967, their volunteer work in Western Samoa, an island in the Pacific, abruptly and unexpectedly came to a halt. The required monthly medication to prevent elephantiasis disease was disfiguring Cathi with each dose.
I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I’ll rise Where the storms never darken the skies.
As with other married couples, Tom and Cathi have faced, accepted, and survived many storms. When the storms involve their children, however, the ship nearly sinks. A personal storm of the O’Connor family centers around one of their four children, son Mark, an athletic and academic young man of 18 with a promising future, who didn’t wake one morning in 1989, suffering the trauma of a spontaneous bleed in his head.
Many times Satan whispered, “There is no use to try, For there’s no end of sorrow, there’s no hope by and by.”
But let’s start at the beginning, before storms were brewing in the life of Tom and Cathi O’Connor. Now married over 49 years, Tom stated, “We’re in it for the long haul. *** The oldest of four siblings, Tom was born on March 3rd, 1944, in Santa Barbara, California, to Tom and Regina O’Connor. He has two younger brothers and a sister. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. Explained Tom about the cross-country move, “My dad was in the U.S. Army and after the War, my parents went back home to Buffalo. Dad was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. Then he finished law school.” Young Tom attended St. Mark’s Catholic Elementary School in Buffalo and Canisius High School, also in Buffalo, where his favorite classes were History and Economics. Canisius was a preparatory school where Tom wrestled for a while with becoming a priest. His best friend did become a priest. Tom graduated in 1962. “Then I wanted to go to Georgetown University,” he stated, “but we didn’t have the money so I went to Canisius College, also run by the Jesuits. I could walk to school. Mom made meals three times a day and life was good. It was a good place to grow up.” It was also a good place to meet girls and be introduced to the one who would become his wife
THE REST OF THE STORY APPEARS IN THE PAPER EDITION. |
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November 2016 |
