J. Norman O'Connor

Attorney J. Norman O’Connor, 83, of 44 Leonard St., Adams, and 1523 Wildwood Lane, Naples, Fla., a longtime Northern Berkshire lawyer, died early Tuesday morning at Naples Community Hospital after being admitted Monday evening.
Born in Uxbridge on July 10, 1923, son of William and Alice (Poulin) O’Connor, he attended schools in Webster and graduated from St. Louis High School there. He entered the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester in 1941, leaving to enlist in the Marine Corps when World War II broke out.
He was assigned to an accelerated 12-month officer training program at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He served in the Pacific theater, seeing combat on Saipan, Tarawa and Guam as a second lieutenant with the 5th Amphibious Corps. He was honorably discharged as a captain in 1946.
He later attended Boston College School of Law, where he received his juris doctor in 1953. Following his graduation, Mr. O’Connor worked as a law clerk for former Justice Counihan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for a year.
He moved to Adams in 1954 to join Walter J. Donovan in the practice of law, eventually becaming a partner and forming Donovan & O’Connor Attorneys at Law. He was the active manager of the firm until 1998. He also had operated his own insurance agency in Putnam, Conn., for several years after leaving the service.
Mr. O’Connor was a fellow of the American College of Trial Attorneys and of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of attorneys, judges and law professors whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership is limited to one-third of one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction; members are nominated by fellows in their jurisdiction and elected by the foundation’s board.
He was a life member of the Massachusetts, Berkshire and American bar associations, and was a member and past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
He was a communicant of the Parish of Notre Dame-St. Thomas Aquinas of Adams, where he was a lector for many years. He was a life member of Adams Post 160 American Legion and the Adams Lodge of Elks. He was a former Adams town meeting member and a member of the Knights of Malta. While at Holy Cross, he was a member of the President’s Council.
Mr. O’Connor especially enjoyed spending time with his family and grandchildren. He was an advocate for education, and had participated in reading to schoolchildren in the Naples elementary schools. He spent several of the winter months at his home in Naples and enjoyed playing golf. 00
He and his wife, the former Betty Deary, were married Aug. 20, 1944.
Besides his wife, he leaves two sons, J. Norman O’Connor Jr. and his wife, Christine, of Adams, and Thomas O’Connor and his wife, Claire, of Westport, Conn.; five daughters, Maureen O’Connor Burgess and her husband, Vermont Supreme Court Associate Justice Brian L. Burgess, of Montpelier, Vt., Marilou Lang and her husband, J. Michael Lang, of Plainville, Conn., Susan O’Connor of Auburn, Maine, Jane Mitchell and her husband, Michael, of Merrimack, N.H., and Elizabeth O’Connor and her husband, Kevin Burke, of Gloucester,15 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
He was predeceased by a daughter, Colleen O’Connor, and by his brother, William O’Connor.

FUNERAL NOTICE -- The funeral for Mr. O’Connor will be Saturday, Nov. 18, at 11 from Paciorek Funeral Home, 13 Hoosac St. Adams, MA 01220, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at noon in St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Route 8, Adams, celebrated by Rev. Daniel J. Boyle, pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Adams. Burial will follow in the family lot in Bellevue Cemetery, Adams.
Calling hours will be Friday from 4 to 7 at the funeral home.
Memorial donations may be made to the Frank H. Wright Memorial Scholarship Fund (Checks payable to the Rose D. Wright Trust), in care of M. Dolores Braza, Trust Officer, Bank of America, One Monarch Place, 21st Floor, Springfield, MA 01144-1001. This is a scholarship fund benefiting Berkshire County law students. To leave a message of condolence, or for directions, please go online to www.apsfuneral home.com.