Col J.F. (Shane) O'Connor, former director of the Army Ordnance Corps, died peacefully at his Newbridge home on September 29th. Born in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, in 1931, he won a scholarship to University College Cork. In 1953, he graduated with a degree in engineering and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army Ordnance Corps. Soon after, he was posted to the No. 1 Garrison Ordnance Company at the Curragh where he was to spend much of his military career.
In 1961, he was sent overseas with the 34th Irish Battalion of the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the Congo. As battalion ordnance officer, he supervised shipment of FN and anti-armour rifles to Irish troops; these would play a vital role when A Company, 35th Infantry Battalion, held out for a week at Jadotville against Katangese gendarmerie attacks. A second UN tour of duty came in 1969, when he served for six months in Cyprus.
A posting to the Army Apprentice School in Naas in 1971 lasted six years. Then, promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1977, he went to Athlone as command ordnance officer, Western Command, with all the security problems of the era.
Returning to Eastern Command in 1979, he was appointed commandant of the Ordnance School in Clancy Barracks, Dublin. Working closely with the Corps Directorate on procurement, he visited manufacturers and suppliers across Europe and the US. He also established the much-needed optronic workshops in Magee Barracks, Kildare.
During this period he made several visits to Irish battalions serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. During one of these, in 1989, he took the opportunity to tour Jerusalem; the Holy Land's places of pilgrimage made a lasting impression on him.
His term as director of the corps from 1993 coincided with reorganisational upheaval in the Defence Forces; he had to ensure that the corps, with its expertise and international standing, was not lost. It will be to his credit for many years that he was successful.
A long-time member of the Institute of Engineers in Ireland, he was made a fellow in 1986. He retired from the Army Ordnance Corps in 1996.
He was a charter member of the Newbridge-Kildare Lions Club, serving two terms as president. He also served on the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council and the Family and Media Association, and made important contributions to the Draft National Plan for Women in 2002 and the Forum on the Family in 2003. Following retirement he was instrumental in establishing the inter-church group in Newbridge.
In 1959, he married Betty Long of Cork, a member of the Joan Denise Moriarty Ballet Company. They settled in Newbridge, where he became chairman of the Curragh Sub-Aqua Club. In negotiations to form an all-island body, his contribution was honoured with election as founding president of Comhairle Fo-Thuinn - the Irish Underwater Council - upon its launch in 1963.
Shane had the highest personal and professional standards. He was a great host and conversationalist, a man of calm assurance who left a lasting impression on all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, his children, John, Tony, Elizabeth, and Charlie, and three grandchildren.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. M.M.