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Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, March 6, 2016 from 2-5 PM. A funeral service will be held at 5 PM, immediately following the visiting hours.
Thomas R. O’Connell, age 75 of Wayne died on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 with his family gathered at this bedside. He had been a resident of Pines Lake in Wayne for the past twenty years and had lived in Wayne for nearly forty years.
Tom enjoyed a lengthy engineering career in the aeronautics industry, working for such firms as Allied Signal and Bendix. He retired in 2005 from Honeywell in Teterboro.
Tom was an avid fisherman and was most content with a line in the water. He had always enjoyed deep sea fishing and was on a first name basis with many of the charter captains along the Jersey Shore. Filling his cooler with fluke or blue fish was fun, but he also loved going right down to Pines Lake and landing a bass or two. He simply loved fishing and he successfully passed that passion on to his son, Kevin. Tom was also an avid photographer often getting his subjects to do crazy things while he captured the action from behind the lens.
Tom met Christina Patlen, a realtor who sold him his current home nearly twenty years ago, and they struck up a pleasant friendship. Christina found Tom to be a charming guy and she set out to find him a girlfriend. As fate would have it, they ended up falling in love with each other! Christina loved Tom’s enthusiasm and zest for life. The two of them enjoyed many adventures together including several cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean, vacations to Florida, and local road trips. They were members of the Pines Lake Seniors and went on just about every outing with the club, including countless trips to Atlantic City where Tom would play the slots and blackjack. Tom was president of the Pines Lake Senior Club for eight years and his fellow members will recall how he started every meeting with a joke! Somehow he had an endless supply of jokes! Tom was also a very proud grandfather. He loved his grandchildren very much and naturally shared his love of fishing with them.
Tom is survived by his devoted spouse; Christina Patlen, by his two children; Karen McCarthy of Oak Ridge, NJ and Kevin O’Connell and his wife Jennifer of Valrico, Florida, five grandchildren; Alison and Ryan O’Connell of Florida, and Amanda, Meredith, and Brian McCarthy of Oak Ridge, NJ, by his sister; Irene Lechner of Springhill, Florida, and by Christina’s family; Deborah Pellegrini and her husband Jim of Wayne, Lisa Apgar and her husband Rick of West Milford, Michael Pellegrini of Wayne, and Raymond and Pat Patlen and family of Arizona.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations would be appreciated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142 www.stjude.org.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, March 6, 2016 from 2-5 PM. A funeral service will be held at 5 PM, immediately following the visiting hours.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Sunday, March 6, 2016 from 2-5 PM. A funeral service will be held at 5 PM, immediately following the visiting hours.
Thomas R. O’Connell, age 75 of Wayne died on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 with his family gathered at this bedside. He had been a resident of Pines Lake in Wayne for the past twenty years and had lived in Wayne for nearly forty years.
Tom enjoyed a lengthy engineering career in the aeronautics industry, working for such firms as Allied Signal and Bendix. He retired in 2005 from Honeywell in Teterboro.
Tom was an avid fisherman and was most content with a line in the water. He had always enjoyed deep sea fishing and was on a first name basis with many of the charter captains along the Jersey Shore. Filling his cooler with fluke or blue fish was fun, but he also loved going right down to Pines Lake and landing a bass or two. He simply loved fishing and he successfully passed that passion on to his son, Kevin. Tom was also an avid photographer often getting his subjects to do crazy things while he captured the action from behind the lens.
Tom met Christina Patlen, a realtor who sold him his current home nearly twenty years ago, and they struck up a pleasant friendship. Christina found Tom to be a charming guy and she set out to find him a girlfriend. As fate would have it, they ended up falling in love with each other! Christina loved Tom’s enthusiasm and zest for life. The two of them enjoyed many adventures together including several cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean, vacations to Florida, and local road trips. They were members of the Pines Lake Seniors and went on just about every outing with the club, including countless trips to Atlantic City where Tom would play the slots and blackjack. Tom was president of the Pines Lake Senior Club for eight years and his fellow members will recall how he started every meeting with a joke! Somehow he had an endless supply of jokes! Tom was also a very proud grandfather. He loved his grandchildren very much and naturally shared his love of fishing with them.
Tom is survived by his devoted spouse; Christina Patlen, by his two children; Karen McCarthy of Oak Ridge, NJ and Kevin O’Connell and his wife Jennifer of Valrico, Florida, five grandchildren; Alison and Ryan O’Connell of Florida, and Amanda, Meredith, and Brian McCarthy of Oak Ridge, NJ, by his sister; Irene Lechner of Springhill, Florida, and by Christina’s family; Deborah Pellegrini and her husband Jim of Wayne, Lisa Apgar and her husband Rick of West Milford, Michael Pellegrini of Wayne, and Raymond and Pat Patlen and family of Arizona.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations would be appreciated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142 www.stjude.org.
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