O'Connell, Pat

Many can remember Pat O'Connell as loving a good laugh. A favorite Mel Brooks film, Peanuts cartoon, or his daughters' annual Christmas play often had him wiping away tears of laughter. And nobody relished a good conversation like Pat, be it with friends or strangers. In standing card games, favorite restaurants, and in his travels, Pat would charm all he met. This served him well in his professional life as an advertising salesman for building magazines. He greatly enjoyed his years at Stamats Publishing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as well as his work at the end of his career with Log Home Living and Country's Best Log Homes in Virginia. He loved traveling to meet his clients, whether in New York City or small towns in Montana.

He loved vacationing in Molokai, Hawaii, was a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, relished the orchestration of a good practical joke, and loved the travel for his work that took him to every one of the United States. His favorite cities were New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Detroit, and in each one you would find him in a local jazz club or at a basketball game.

Pat enjoyed telling stories as much as reading them, and could not be found without a book in his briefcase or on his bedstand. He was a big fan of political biographies, and liked arguing politics. As a liberal Democrat who loved his country, he suffered when people were not treated fairly because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. He was a champion of the underdog.

Patrick Joseph O'Connell was born March 10, 1930, in Sidney, Neb., the son of William Joseph and Anna Marie Kernan O'Connell. He was raised in Hastings, Neb., and graduated from St. Cecilia's High School, where he played baseball, was quarterback of the football team, and played point guard on the basketball team. He was chosen for the High School Catholic All-State Basketball Team.

For two years after high school, he served in and played basketball for the United States Air Force, and then attended Regis College in Denver, Colo., where he played on the basketball team and graduated with a degree in business. After college, he played semipro basketball in Colorado. The camaraderie forged with his teammates endured through Pat's lifetime, and his athleticism found outlets in years of regular golf and tennis games.

Pat was proud to say he spent the last 30 years of his life clean and sober. But he was even more proud of his wife and six daughters, whom he often referred to as the source of his greatest happiness in life. Pat O'Connell will be remembered by his family not only as a man who loved his wife and daughters to his utmost, but also as an individual who regularly courted joy in his life with travel to favorite places, impromptu conversation with strangers at the next table, spinning a favorite tale, or hearty appreciation of a very good, or sometimes very bad, joke.

Pat's family is deeply grateful to the nurses and aides in the Alzheimer's units who cared so well for him during his final days at Ramsey Village and Trinity Center at Luther Park.

Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m., Friday, March 18, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sutton, Neb. A rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Thursday at the church. Burial will be at St. Mary's cemetery in Sutton. Donations may be made in Pat's name to the American Civil Liberties Union or the Alzheimer's Association.

He was preceded in death by his parents, William Joseph and Anne Marie (Kernan) O'Connell; his brother, Jim O'Connell; and his sisters, Shirley McKeone and Mary Schmidt.

He is survived by his wife, Peg; his six daughters, Theresa (Joe Weeg), Maureen (Tom Dodd), Elizabeth (Kirk Leiffert), Eileen (Brad Conzet), Sheila (George Rakis) and Patricia (Stephen Lewis); and his 13 grandchildren.