WILMINGTON, MA — Alfred T. O’Connor, of Wilmington, age 89, passed away April 22, 2020, at Care One in Wilmington, MA. He was predeceased by his beloved wife, Janet (Colucci) O’Connor, and their son, Thomas M. O’Connor.
He was a devoted husband for 63 years and took excellent care of Janet as her health failed. He loved his son, Tom and was a proud Papa to his beloved grandchildren, Alyssa and Camron and delighted in seeing them and attending their activities.
Alfred had a big personality and enjoyed life. He was a character, and a jokester, but was also kind and giving.
As a young man, he and his family worked summers at the Mount Washington Hotel, where he was a soda jerk making ice cream sundaes and shakes and later on working at a horse ranch, grooming and walking horses. He was a member of the Charlestown High hockey team. He served in the National Guard and, while there, learned to fly a plane. He later purchased a plane with his brother Chuck and flew out of the TewMac airport in Tewksbury. Most of his adult life, he worked in insurance, eventually retiring as a Vice President.
Alfred was a founding member of the Father Edmund W. Croke Council No. 4982 of the Knights of Columbus and recently was awarded with the council’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He was very active in the Knights where he achieved the ranks of 4th degree, Grand Knight, Faithful Navigator and District Deputy. He officiated at the degree ceremonies and prided himself in memorizing his parts. He was a member of St Thomas of Villanova parish and was a CCD teacher for many years.
He loved gardening, flying, golfing, and puttering around his pine grove. He could sit for hours listening to the Red Sox or Patriots as he gazed at the sun shining over his pines. He had a beautiful voice and loved to sing Frank Sinatra’s “I Did it My Way” and as a nod to his Humble Al nickname “I’m Just too Good to Be True.”
He was predeceased by his mother Margaret, father Charles Sr., sisters, Marjorie Hemenway and Marion Tremont, brothers, Charles, Herbert, James and Roderick O’Connor, and his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Virginia and Albert Salera.
He leaves his grandchildren, Alyssa and Camron O’Connor and his daughter-in-law, Michelle O’Connor of Marshfield, MA. His niece Diane Clifton and her husband, James, of Wilmington and his nephew David Salera and his wife, Lori of Nottingham, NH, his sister-in-law Jayne O’Connor, and many cousins, nieces and nephews, friends, and neighbors.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Alfred’s memory can be made to the Knights of Columbus Father Edmund W. Croke Council No. 4982, PO Box 368, Wilmington, MA 01887.
Due to the current situation with the Corona virus and for the safety of everyone, the O’Connor family has decided to hold a private service at this time. A Memorial Mass for Alfred will be held at a later date; please follow our website for updated information at www.nicholsfuneralhome.com.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Nichols Funeral Home, Wilmington.
(NOTE: The above obituary is from Nichols Funeral Home.)
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