The peaceful passing of Gerard (Jerry) Charles O’Connell occurred on December 27th, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. He is survived by his loved and adored wife, Mary Ellen O’Connell (Skelly), of 60 years, his children, John, Seamus, Mary, Gerry and Patty, his beloved grandchildren, Brent, Carlin, Sarah, Sean, Senan, Aoife, Rhiannon, Dakota, Madelyn, Collin and his sister-in-law Kathleen.
Jerry was a loving husband and father, a hard working civil engineer involved in many diverse fields largely with the Maricopa County Health Department.
He served as a radio operator for the US Army in the Korean war. He studied Japanese and hosted Japanese foreign exchange students. He was actively involved in the Catholic community. He donated extensively to charities, notably Habitat for Humanity, Corpus Christi Church, St. Mary’s Food Bank, St. Vincent de Paul & the Diocese of Phoenix.
Born in New York of Irish heritage, he boldly ventured west to Arizona in the early 60’s and loved discovering the natural beauties of his adopted landscape, avidly hiking the trails in the Grand Canyon and regularly up the mountains of the valley of Phoenix.
He will be very missed and fondly remembered by his large and loving family.
The church service will be celebrated at 10:30am Saturday the 31st of December, 2022 at Corpus Christi Church, 3550 E. Knox Road, Phoenix AZ, 85044.
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