James McConnell

10/18/1939 - 12/01/2025

Jim McConnell, born in Derry N. Ireland, passed away on December 1 surrounded by love. He studied at All Hallows College in Dublin and in 1963 was ordained a Catholic priest assigned to St. Peter's parish in Eugene, Oregon. While in the clergy, he marched in Vietnam war protests and was reprimanded repeatedly for preaching an anti-war message from the pulpit. He left the priesthood in 1970, became a U.S. citizen, and began a new life in Portland when he married Patricia Heston and adopted her daughter Mary. Jim and Pat were married for 55 years.
When he took his vow in 1963 to love the God of his understanding and his vow in 1970 to love his soul-mate Pat, he fully embraced his humanity and lived those commitments with a tender compassion until the day he died.
He began his second career as a community organizer and in 1980 became Director of Multnomah County Department of Aging and Disability Services. Drawing on experiences in the clergy and his activism, he became a champion of independence, choice, and dignity for older adults and people with disabilities. He was among the architects of the groundbreaking "Oregon Model," a comprehensive approach to long-term care that secured the use of Medicaid for community-based alternatives to nursing homes. The model laid the budgetary and policy foundations for adult foster care and independent living programs. It re-conceptualized long-term care as an expanded array of service options that assisted people with activities of daily life. Jim also worked to ensure that the people receiving services were self-advocates who participated fully in the public policy decisions that impacted their lives. He continued working with aging and disability rights groups well into his retirement.
He was active in several Portland-based faith communities over the years, first as a parishioner of St. Francis Church and then the Koinonia Community. In the last seven years, he attended services at St. David of Wales Episcopal Church.
Jim loved meeting people and made a point of greeting everyone in any room he entered. His life was filled with soccer, music, dancing, reading, storytelling, good food, and good humor. He fished and ran half marathons in his younger years and became a bird watcher later in life. He was an Irish dancer, calling dances at local c�il�s (or c�ilithe) and performing at the Seattle Folklife Festival. He credited his weekly success in finishing the Sunday NY Times crossword to the fact that, as a seminarian, he studied Greek, Gaelic, Hebrew and became fluent in Latin.
He is survived by his wife Pat, his daughters Kathleen and Ruby, daughter-in-law Amy, son-in-law Paul, grandchildren Audrey, Riley and Taylor, his sisters Tess Coyle and Monica McConnell, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. His daughter Mary and his brother Robert preceded him in death.
A celebration of Jim's life will be held at 1:00 p.m. on February 21st, 2026 at St. David of Wales Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon.
A wake will be held on January 12th, 2026 at the family home, 81 Lone Moor Road, followed by a mass at 11:00 a.m. on January 13th at the Long Tower in Derry, Northern Ireland.