John Dale O'Conner

John Dale O’Conner was born November 3, 1954, in Missoula, MT to Robert and Adeline (Vetter) O’Conner.

John attended Missoula schools and was a 1973 Sentinel HS graduate. He set a city record in track and played football, but his interests were more in music than sports. His “professional” music career began when he and two bandmates earned $5 for playing in O’Conner Construction Band for their local junior high school dance.

At University of Montana (where his band income paid for his education), he completed a B.S. in Computer Science with high honors in 1981 and continued to graduate school in Business Administration to study and pass the CPA exam. He was only one class short of a Music major; focused on double reeds, piano, and singing bass, including operas.

After college he worked in Missoula for Education Logistics, whose software designed efficient school bus routes, and he was an accountant for several local businesses. He also served as a choir director at a Lutheran Church; he played in the pit orchestra for Missoula Children’s Theater; he sang in Mendelssohn Club (and returned from Olympia to sing with them in the first two International Choral festivals).

He played guitar and sang in numerous local bands, including Straitlace, The Quarry, Pegasus, Quarry, Satyr, and the Bop-a-Dips. His bands performed across Montana and Idaho, and as far as Nevada. He recalled playing for presidential nominee Sargent Shriver, and his bands crossed paths and were warm-up bands for several nationally known performers.

In 1985 he came to Olympia, WA, to work as a computer programmer at the Administrative Office of the Courts, where the state’s District/Muni Court system’s accounting subsystem was being rewritten due to legislative

changes. In his 30-year career at AOC, he advanced to Configuration Manager, Data Architect, and finally Database Administrator for the statewide DB2 system that housed the data for the Washington State Courts. He retired in 2015.

At AOC John met his co-worker and future wife Celeste. Inspired by her, he attended St. Michael Parish and became a member of the Catholic Church at the 1987 Easter Vigil. He and Celeste were married in April 1991. Soon after, they became the parish’s Wedding Liturgy Coordinators, and for seven years they guided 107 other couples through wedding prep and wedding day.

They were unable to have a family of their own, so they focused on their parish family, and joined the church choir. Active in their church community, they were invited to be Godparents to Marissa, Ryan, Eliana, and Aidan, all four a blessing in their lives.

He played racquetball, jogged when courts closed during COVID, and joined Celeste as she walked the neighborhood loop, or he did walk/runs as she walked. John and Celeste were invested in their neighborhood, volunteering for and leading projects. He served on the HOA Board several times; recently he transitioned from President to Treasurer. John faithfully supported Celeste in her own charitable endeavors, including JustFaith Ministries, a social justice education/action program, and Quilts of Valor. They shared a passion for nature and God’s Creation—building their own “Nature Channel” in their backyard.

He currently played bassoon for the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. He served as Treasurer for the Tenino Young at Heart Theater Board. He played bassoon at church, bass guitar in the church’s funeral choir and in a small group who performed at nursing homes. Saint Michael School staff invited him to come periodically to educate the band students about double reed instruments and good practice habits. At home he passionately played his own symphonic composition on the piano, and then Chopin Nocturnes for his wife.

He was a past member of the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Masterworks Choral Ensemble, and Olympia Choral Society. He played in the annual Chehalis Messiah Sing-along, Centralia College musical theater productions, and Olympia Children’s Theater.

He coded and refined a compiler on his home desktop; he loved strategy and logic puzzles, science fiction, mysteries, jigsaw puzzles, cribbage, and bridge. He did intricate knitting for himself, Celeste, and family; he knit baby items for Pregnancy Aid. He studied and played GO (an Asian strategy board game).

John died on Sunday, September 7, after a cardiac arrest during a walk/run.

He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife Celeste Maris, sister Kathy and brother Michael (Missoula) and sister Karen (Pendleton, OR), nieces and nephews.

The Funeral mass will be Thursday, September 25, at 12 noon at St. Michael Parish, 1055 Boundary St SE, Olympia, WA 98501. A funeral lunch will follow at the church.

On Thursday, October 2, at 2pm his ashes will be put to rest in the columbarium at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Tumwater.