Agnes Q. O'Connor

Agnes was born as a United States citizen in Varese, Lombardy, Italy on January 18, 1931, the daughter of Angelo and Angela (Gianoli) Quaini and arrived in the US on the SS Rex in 1934. After graduating from Southern Connecticut State College, she married Joseph E. O’Connor in West Haven on July 4, 1953; Agnes and Joe were happily married for almost 63 years until his death in 2016. Throughout Joe’s career in the United States Navy, during which he rose to the rank of Captain and was often out to sea on submarine patrol, Agnes was the family’s steady captain at home. After moving many times with the Navy, Agnes and Joe moved to their beloved Old Lyme in 1979.

Agnes lived every day with great enthusiasm and devotion to things she was passionate about.

Her greatest joys were in the raising of her children and time spent with her grandchildren. Her love was unconditional, and she always supported and encouraged her children to be the best they could be. Her grandchildren’s annual summer vacation visits were joyous occasions that Agnes marked with balloons on the mailbox, big tins of their favorite cookies, trips to the beach, and the performance of her annual cartwheel that delighted the kids until her doctor finally forbade it. The love and pride she felt toward her family was on display whenever she drove around town with her “GRAMAO” license plate and rear window covered in stickers from her children’s and grandchildren’s colleges.

Agnes loved children and was a teacher in the West Haven School System prior to raising her own children. She served on the Lyme-Old Lyme School Board for many years, including a term as Chairwoman. She was a lifelong learner who loved reading and was a generous volunteer and donor at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and would often say “if you can read, you can learn to do anything.” She loved nature and was an avid gardener and member of the Duck River Garden Club and the Florence Griswold Museum Garden Gang as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Old Lyme Land Trust.

Agnes had a deep faith and was an active participant in Catholic parishes wherever she lived; she was very involved at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme in many capacities over the last 40 years.

Agnes has been called home by husband Joe and sons John and David. She is survived by daughter Elizabeth (Michael) Dickoff of MN and son Joseph (Kathryn) O’Connor, Jr. of NE; grandchildren John (Julianna Simon) Dickoff, Meghan (David) Blodgett, Joseph (Caitlin) O’Connor, Matthew Dickoff, Sarah (Morgan McLean) O’Connor and Timothy (Sarah) O’Connor; great grandchildren Agnes Simon-Dickoff, Sam Blodgett, John O’Connor, Danny O’Connor and Edie Blodgett; beloved sisters Joanne Flynn, Wilhelmina Pandolfi and Mary Ann Tarantino; many nieces and nephews; and Paul Nkamsi, whom Agnes and Joe remained close with since serving as his sponsor family while he was a cadet at the Coast Guard Academy.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 11:00am in Christ the King Church, 1 McCurdy Road, Old Lyme, CT. Interment will follow in Duck River Cemetery, Old Lyme. Calling Hours will be held on Friday, October 1, 2021 from 5:00 until 7:00pm in Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, 13 Beckwith Ln., Old Lyme, CT 06371. Masks will be required at the funeral home for all visitors.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Agnes Q. O’Connor to Christ the King Church, 1 McCurdy Road, Old Lyme, CT 06371 or The Children’s Room at Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme, CT 06371.

Please visit www.fultontherouxoldlyme.com for photos, tributes, directions and more service information.