Ed O'Connor W2TTN - Silent Key

Ed was one of the founding members of the Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs (RBRA) in Sayreville, NJ. The club was started sometime in the mid 1950's.

EDWARD J. O'CONNOR, 86, MORGAN
Home News Tribune Online 11/1/07
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Edward J. O'Connor, 86, of the Morgan section of Sayreville died Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007, at home.


Born in South Amboy, he lived in Morgan for the past 53 years. Before retiring 23 years ago, he was employed in satellite communications by the U.S. Department of Defense at Fort Monmouth. He was a member of St. Mary's R.C. Church, South Amboy, where he was a devoted server of the Eucharist.

He was a life member of the Thoreau Society (devoted to the life and works of American author/naturalist/transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau); and a life member of The Nature Conservatory. He was a founding member of Raritan Bay Radio Amateurs with the call letters W2TTM. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, flying 14 missions in combat and was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

As president of the Morgan & Bayview Manor Improvement Association, Mr. O'Connor and his neighbors fought against a proposal to build a nuclear power plant and aluminum retractor plant on the Morgan landfill. They succeeded in their petition for a county park, now the Raritan Bay Waterfront Park.

He also served on the Sayreville Planning Board, the Board of Health, and was instrumental in forming the Sayreville Environmental Commission.

He was predeceased by his parents, John Vincent and Genevieve O'Connor. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Rita Hellmuth O'Connor; five sons, Christopher of Albuquerque, N.M., Mark of Old Bridge, Dr. David of Gainesville, Fla., Jonathan and his wife, Audrey, of Belford and Michael and his wife, Catherine, of Sayreville; four daughters, Mary Ann and Therese, both of Morgan, Dolores Gatays and her husband, Joseph, of South Amboy and Jacqueline Hagood and her husband, Gary, of Jacksonville, Fla.; four grandchildren, Jacob, Nicholas, Ian and Erin; a great-granddaughter, Amelia; a sister, Doris G. Hanson of North Brunswick, and two nephews, Patrick Hanson and his wife, Nancy, of Milltown and John Hanson and his wife, Maryanne, of Howell.

Funeral services will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at The Gundrum Service "Home For Funerals," 237 Bordentown Ave., South Amboy, followed by a 9:30 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary's Church, South Amboy. Interment will be at Christ Church Cemetery, South Amboy. Visitation will be held from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. and 7 p.m.-9 p.m. today (Thursday) at the funeral home.