William O'Connor

William (Bill) O'Connor, AKA 'Elevator Bill' succumbed to death fighting dementia at his memory care facility weeks shy of his 86th birthday on December 9, 2024.
He is now at peace for eternity pulling pranks on his parents,10 siblings and many dogs. He loved playing, tricking, and tickling the little ones in his life to get a rise out of them while obviously garnering the most fun.
An extraordinarily kind and generous soul, who had an enviable work ethic. He spent 9/10ths of his life 'on-call'; he missed many funerals & prime rib dinners, by sacrificing his downtime to keep the elevators running; hard work was his get rich quick scheme. He went to trade school, and worked for his father in the elevator trade at 17, he then went on to own companies in Montreal and Daytona, where he finally retired, traveled and unfortunately because of the advanced stages of his disease shared a room at the 'memory care inn' with his wife of sixty years, Nicole (Nicky) whom he never forgot.
Bill cautioned that you must protect your 'name' because it is the most important thing that you carry with you your whole life. A man of integrity, who loved his dogs, landscaping, inventing, building, fixing, laughing, and especially those who went out of their way to be thoughtful to just drop in and visit, if not for a vacation in the south, then for just a beer. Old clients still call the elevator company, remembering, and admiring not only his technical savvy, but his moral and generous character.
He is survived by his wife, Nicole/Nicky (Joncas), daughter Dawn, and son Jeff; son-in-law Rick Bordignon, and daughter-in-law Rohini (Bhagat). He also leaves behind his grandchildren, Tyler and Annika, step-grandchildren Mark and Caroline, and dozens of nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers please reach out to someone whom you haven't spoken to in a long time and let them know you care.
A memorial will be held on Sunday, December 22nd at his home in New Smyrna Beach at 1pm, where his ashes will rest with all of his dogs (and cat) over the last 40 years.