BILL O’CONNELL: “The seventh of eight children growing up on an
oil lease south of Bradford, O’Connell didn’t have much time for
high school, never mind college.
” ‘If it hadn’t been for football and basketball and my
classmates convincing me to stay, I’d have quit,’ said O’Connell, a
1955 graduate of St. Bernard’s and a longtime resident of Delevan.
‘Knowing I couldn’t go to college – no one in my family had, we
just couldn’t afford it – I just didn’t see the point.'”
We quote from a recent article published in conjunction with St.
Bonaventure University’s 150 anniversary celebration, quite a
milestone for the college which has many graduates in this side of
the border – even one in our newsroom.
Bill O’Connell is indeed an interesting character. Over two days
we’ll quote from the story and introduce our readers to Bill and
his colorful career.
Here’s how his contact with a world outside Bradford began:
“I moved in with my sister (Pat Carlson) and her husband in
Bradford, and on the same day I was offered a job in a bank and a
job in one of the factories. I thought I’d take the bank job so I
could wear a nice shirt,” O’Connell recalled. “But my sister said,
‘No, if you take that job you’re going to be there the rest of your
life. You’re going to take the factory job and you’re still going
to go to college.'”
By January, she had him all set to go to Clarion which laid the
foundation for a life in education.
“O’Connell started teaching in Limestone in 1960, and within
four years was the superintendent, at age 26. He left for the newly
merged Pioneer Central district in 1966 and retired from there in
1992, the last 17 years spent as principal of the middle school he,
more than anyone, established.”
The concept of a middle school was a new one but O’Connell was
convinced it was a better idea than mixing teen-agers of vastly
different ages. He campaigned hard for the new school.
“Eventually, Pioneer voters overwhelmingly approved the switch
to a middle school concept. The new middle school building, which
still houses students in fifth through eighth grade, opened in
1975.”
He eventually “retired” from high school but soon became an
integral part of St. Bonaventure’s faculty influencing a whole new
generation of education.
And then his life really “took off.”
