For quite some time after Dr. Jim O’Connor first came to town 50 years ago, he thought the move would be temporary – but no longer.
“This has become my home now and I’ve come to the conclusion that I think I’ll stay,” O’Connor said to much laughter on April 7.
He was honoured by Erin council last week as this year’s inductee to the wall of fame at Centre 2000, in recognition of five decades of “quiet service” to the town and surrounding area.
O’Connor recalled the last time he had a “one-on-one” with a council was in 1962, but that meeting was also very cordial.
“I’ve never experienced anything else but a welcoming tone in this community,” he said.
Mayor Rod Finnie, who said he remembers Dr. O’Connor since as far back as his early teens, told those in the gallery the town received lots of fine nominations for the 2009 wall of fame designation.
“But this candidate sticks out head and shoulders above the rest,” Finnie said of O’Connor. He thanked the doctor for his many years of dedicated, selfless service to the community, adding, “We really do appreciate it.”
In accepting the certificate and plaque, O’Connor said he has been recognized in the past for academic achievements, but the wall of fame designation is special because it came from peers and those within the community.
“This is indeed an honour by which I am greatly humbled,” he said.
