Wonderful tribute and photos, especially those taken when your dad was a child. Thanks for sharing this video Corey. My best to your family and you.
When I read the shocking news that JOCO had passed away I was confused at what I should do. When Diane posted the information about the Memorial service for Jim my first thought was “I’ve got to go.” On second thought, realizing all that entailed, I began to waiver. I talked it over with Mary assuming that she’d offer some sanity to the situation but in the end, she convinced me that for me it was right to go. I flew out of Orlando Wed. afternoon. I’d forgotten life with a mask, but 7 hours of airport and flight bring all the memories back. Stepping outside the terminal at LAX I was struck by how wonderful 68 degrees felt after the mid 90’s of Florida. My enjoyment of the weather was soon tempered by the frustration of driving on LA freeways. I bunked down at a Sheraton near the Ontario airport. It turned out that it was only a 15 min. drive from the church where the memorial was. Woke up at 5am and checked in with Mary who I knew had already been up for 2 hours. Had plenty of time to primp for church. I arrived half an hour early and just sat in the car a while watching the O’Connor clan arrive and go into the church. Finally headed out to the church and went through the temperature check at the door. Signed the visitor’s book and walked down the aisle. Stopped at a walker where I said hello to Corey who was sitting with Britney and Carson. Found Diane in the first pew and stopped to tell her I was happy that I’d come. After the mass and eulogy, I stopped by the back of the church just long enough to pick up a program. Jim’s youngest son Eric had done the eulogy and invited everyone back to his home afterwards. I finally learned the proper pronunciation of Jim’s nickname. I had always pronounced it as JOE-CO but family called him JOCK-OH. Stopped to chat with Corey as he was struggling to get out of a car. The car was a little small for him and he was still recovering from complications from knee surgery. He’s had the stitches fail to hold on a couple of occasion. Once inside Eric’s I got a chance to sit with Di and just chat. I was wondering if Jim had been sick or had been having complaints for a while. She told me that the family suspected that a couple of years ago Jim had had a cardiac event of some sort but that he’d been adamant about not going to the doctor. He apparently died in his sleep from an occlusion of the anterior descending coronary artery. She told me how she kept hitting him to wake up and after realizing he was gone kept hitting him for leaving. I met a number of the members of the family. I spoke to in-law Grady Callen who introduce me to his grown son Brendan. Grady reminded me of the contest JOCO had run on Skybox years ago regarding the son’s name. I had lunch and half a beer and then decided to take my leave. Everyone was very friendly, but I felt it was more of a family function and I thought better of waiting for an open mic and a few more beers. Masked up and flew home Friday. Hated the return trip to LAX on the freeways and paid $4.25 for gas. Still, glad that I went.
Thanks for the report Mike! We all wish it could have been for a different occasion, but glad you were there.
I made it a point to tell Diane how much we all liked Jim and how he's irreplaceable. She knows what he meant to us.
Well, now I know I've been calling him by the wrong name for 25 years ! I watched the service from my office desk and it was touching. The montage of photos was really well done. I think it's safe to say that we will all miss him very much.
Thank you, Mike, for that emotional description of your day and for allowing the rest of us to have attended vicariously through you. Jim's passing has left a hole in the heart of the Skybox. What he contributed over the years cannot be replaced. We'll move forward, always holding tight to our memories of Jim and being thankful for how he enriched our lives with his presence.
I am so sorry that I didn't see notification of the service. Being recently retired, I could have put off the unpacking of the new house to attend and pay my respects. Thank you Mike for doing so. Cindy and I met with the O'Connors in California on two occasions. One of them was when we went to the Tennessee vs UCLA game at the Rose Bowl during September of the 1994 regular season. We met with them before the game started. Corey left to go to the USC game while we attended the UT vs UCLA game. We were in California again in a later year and met JO'Co and Diane for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. Don't even remember the year or why we were there but remember the meeting. Jim explained to me the "JO'Co" pronunciation early. Not even catching that the "O'Co" was relating to the first three letters of his last name, I thought the "JO" was his initials and the "Co" was referring to a company. He set me straight so I just assumed that everyone else knew and I was the only one that didn't make the connection. Jim, you will be missed here.
Met JO'Co one time. Took a number of Phi Theta Kappa, JC Honor Society, to California for a convention. Contacted JO'Co that I was going to be in the area and he picked me up at the hotel and we went to dinner together and it was a wonderful time for me. We had something in common that we both ended up as educators late in our careers and really enjoyed it. It was a highlight of that trip for me and I always hoped we might get together again if he came East. Thought it might happen a couple of times but just didn't work out. Wonderful man and wonderful family.