The Vermont golf community has lost two longtime contributors in the span of just three weeks.
Michael O'Connor (below right), a former superintendent and the founder of Greenspace Environmental and Turf Services, died Nov. 2 at his home in Westminster. Michael, 68, had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease. He was preceded in death by his father, William (top right), a longtime Vermont superintendent, on Oct. 13.
William O'Connor, 91, became head greenkeeper at Bellows Falls Country Club in 1951 at age 17. The product of a different era, he slept in the caddy shack so he could be at work early in the morning. His career at Bellows Falls started at age 12 as a caddy. He eventually was named superintendent, a position he held until 1979.
When not on the golf course, William was an active member of the Westminster community. He sold insurance in the 1979s for Metropolitan Life. As the story goes, he would collect premiums in person and always brought a biscuit along for dogs on his route. He also was known to hold a baby or two while customers took a minute to throw in a load of laundry or run the vacuum.
William served as town manager from 1982 to 1998 for Westminster, where he lived for 60 years. Before becoming town manager, he was on the school board and was a town selectman.
As a youngster, Michael O'Connor grew up on the grounds at Bellows Falls alongside his father. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and went on to work at Chevy Chase Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland and Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, before going on to become superintendent at then director of golf course operations at Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont.
In 1990, Michael founded Greenspace Environmental and Turf Services, an international environmental company specializing in design and permitting of golf courses in the United States and abroad.
Throughout his career, Michael served many years on the board of the Vermont Golf Course Superintendents Association. In his spare time, he was a model train aficionado and was a self-taught guitar player.
After his diagnosis, Michael continued his practice in agronomy and simultaneously served the Vermont Chapter of American Parkinson's Disease Association and was an advocate for those affected by the disease.
Survivors include wife, Barbara; mother, Marlene O’Connor; sisters Shannon O’Connor (Michael Pon) and Erin Harding (John); brother-in-law, Werner Muller; sister-in-law, Ramona El Hamzaoui; sister-in-law, Lisa Muller; uncle, Paul O’Connor; cousin, Robert Kenney (Ruth); and many nieces and nephews.
