One of Dennis O'Connor's favourite things to do at any family gathering was to pull out a harmonica and play a few tunes. Many nights he would be joined by his wife Agnes and daughter Maureen, the three of them playing old Irish favourites. Dennis loved music and life and he cherished those moments.
Dennis was raised in a converted boxcar in Northern Ontario. His father Dinnes worked for the railroad and his mother Marie was a schoolteacher. A bright boy, Dennis was reading at 3 with the help of his mother, who died of tuberculosis when he was 9. His father remarried and Chris became his caring new mother.
After high school, Dennis worked in the mines. On turning 18 he enlisted in the Canadian Air Force to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. For the next 57 years, he lived that dream. He flew for the Air Force for 23 years, as a corporate pilot for 25 years and then for Environment Canada. A famous quote of his was, "The day I say I am going to work is the day I quit." Instead, he always said he was "going flying."
While stationed in Goose Bay, Labrador, Dennis met a popular Nursing Sister, Agnes McNamara. They married in 1955 and had four children: Shawn, Daniel, Kevin and Maureen. Dennis and Agnes loved to laugh, take drives and play cards.
While stationed in England in the sixties, Dennis was thrilled to be invited to the Queen's garden party, where he and Agnes were presented to the Royal Family. The photo of them in front of Buckingham Palace in the prime of their lives is a family treasure.
When Agnes died of brain cancer in 2001, Dennis was devastated. Bachelor life wasn't for him and he passed his time by gardening and visiting with friends at the officer's mess. A few years later, while visiting his daughter on Gabriola Island, B.C., he met Ruth, a bright artistic woman. They fell in love and married in 2005.
Dennis loved jokes. After piloting the Apollo 11 astronauts, he arrived home to his four young children and showed them an envelope filled with dirt that he said had come from the astronauts. On the side he'd written "moon dust."
When Dennis was diagnosed with his illness last September he took it in stride without an ounce of self-pity. "My life has been like a wonderful car ride across the country. And now, just as I pull into the garage, I find I have a flat tire. That doesn't spoil the ride," he said.
While he rarely spoke of it, Dennis was proud that a kid from a boxcar could grow up to have tea with the Queen, fly the world and raise four children who would be awarded 11 university degrees. A humble man filled with the spirit of life, we will feel him flying over us for a long time.
Daniel and Kevin O'Connor
are Dennis's sons.
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