Maurice J. O'Connell

Maurice J. O'Connell, 95, died peacefully the morning of Jan. 18 at Miles Hospital in Damariscotta, Maine, on the 14th anniversary of the death of Marian Grab O'Connell, his devoted wife of 59 years.

Named after his father, Maurice was born on June 19, 1915 in New York City. "Marcy" spent part of his childhood, ages 5 to 11, in Ireland after his mother, Mary Clifford, died during the 1919 influenza epidemic. Returning to New York City, he graduated from Xavier High School in 1932. He met and married Marian Grab of Thornhurst in 1938, and together they resided in New York City until the mid-1970s. Since then, Maurice lived in Belleview, N.J.; Thornhurst; Solomons Island, Md.; Leesburg, Va.; and Newcastle, Maine, (at Lincoln Home for more than eight years); and Damariscotta, where he was last a resident of Cove's Edge LTC.

Maurice worked on the New York piers before retiring to Thornhurst in 1977 and, at the time of his death, was the most senior member of the International Longshoreman's Association. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus councils in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Maine. During retirement, he was a member of the Thornhurst Volunteer Fire Department and served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Mark's Catholic Church.

Surviving are two sons, M. John O'Connell and wife, Sandra, Boothbay Harbor, Maine,; and Joseph G. O'Connell, Thornhurst; a daughter, Clare O'Connell, Hopewell Junction, N.Y.; four grandsons, Douglas O'Connell and wife, Fabiana, Nokomis, Fla.; Maurice O'Connell VIII and wife, Alice, Seminole, Fla.; Christopher O'Connell, Durham, N.C.; and Kevin Kozikowski and wife, Erin, Leesburg, Va.; five granddaughters, Kristin O'Connell Epley, Denver; Alana Johnson and husband, Trent, Newport, N.C.; Jaime O'Connell Hilty, Edgewater, Md.; Kimberly Davis and husband, Gary, Newport, N.C.; and Kathleena O'Connell, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and seven great-grandchildren, Ryan and Rebecca O'Connell, Andre Johnson, Madison and Sophia Davis, Michael Kozikowski and Jordan O'Connell Hilty. Maurice is also survived by four of his wife's siblings: three sisters, Jean Fenton, Virginia Beach, Va.; Bernice Randall, Gouldsboro; and Eleanor Fakoury, Fairfax, Va.; and a brother, Joseph Grab, Thornhurst; six brothers- and sisters-in-law, including his brother's widow, Jeanette O'Connell, Glenville N.Y.; 50 nieces and nephews; and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was also preceded in death by a brother, James.

The family plans to honor and celebrate Maurice's life on July 29, as part of its 48th annual reunion in Thornhurst with a memorial service at St. Mark's Church, to be followed by a reception at the Thornhurst Fire Department Hall.

Your thoughts and prayers are most appreciated, but, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to the Lincoln Home, 22 River Road, Newcastle, ME 04553.

Local arrangements by Duffy & Snowdon Funeral Home of Moscow.