Paul Joseph O'Connor - 2020 Recipient of the Jean Hibbert Memorial Award
At the November 19th, 2020 Annual General Meeting, EHS presented Paul Joseph O'Connor with the 2020 Jean Hibbert Memorial Award.
Paul O’Connor didn’t suddenly discover an interest in local history, he lived with it his entire life. He spent decades studying and publicizing the history of Etobicoke and his beloved community of Alderwood in particular. He has been posthumously awarded the 2020 Jean Hibbert Award by the Etobicoke Historical Society.
Paul Joseph O’Connor was born on April 18, 1954, more than a century after the O’Connor family first settled in the Alderwood area to farm in 1851. When the farmland was turned into subdivisions of modest homes, the O’Connors stayed on to become essential members of the growing community. Paul’s grandfather, John P. O’Connor, for example, was the first and only chief of Alderwood’s volunteer fire department from 1931 to 1956.
Paul attended Michael Power High School and then the Erindale Campus of the University of Toronto, where he studied Public Administration with courses in Political Science and History. This led to an interesting job as a Customs Broker specializing in Trade Compliance. He became an expert in helping his clients navigate the many regulations surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
But Paul’s greatest interest was history – all sorts of history but above all, the history of his Alderwood neighbourhood and his family’s role in it. He wrote the Alderwood chapter in the well-received Villages of Etobicoke book in the 1980s. He was also a cousin to the famous O’Connor Sisters, who sang on the Vaudeville circuit from 1910 to 1937, returning home each summer to Alderwood. The circuit’s only authentic six-sister act, they appeared with many famous personalities of the era, from Al Jolson to Red Skelton. Paul documented their history.
Paul worked for 10 years to get a plaque erected near their now-demolished home on Connorvale Avenue and it honoured both the Lafferty family, who were Black pioneer farmers and the O’Connors who bought the Lafferty’s home. In the 1990s and early 2000s Paul was responsible for getting another half-dozen plaques placed around south Etobicoke. They commemorated the Long Branch Race Track, the seizure of the Adam Beck School by unemployed men during the Depression, and pioneer settler Col. Samuel Smith among others.
Paul and his neighbour, firefighter Alan Anketell, founded the Alderwood Historical Society in the late 1990s and it met regularly for a dozen years or more, featuring topics of local historical interest. After Alan’s sudden passing in March, 1999, Paul kept the society going. It was eventually folded into the Etobicoke Historical Society, but Paul’s research continued.
In addition to his volunteer work locally, Paul was on the Board of Directors of Heritage Toronto from 2003 to 2007 and was a member of the Board of Directors of Montgomery’s Inn from 2000 to 2004. He wrote columns for local newspapers and served his community in other capacities, for example as a member of the Etobicoke Safety Council from 1979 to 1981 and as a Director of the local Lions Club in the same period.
Paul O’Connor died of COVID-19 on April 25, 2020 at the age of 66
Paul O’Connor didn’t suddenly discover an interest in local history, he lived with it his entire life. He spent decades studying and publicizing the history of Etobicoke and his beloved community of Alderwood in particular. He has been posthumously awarded the 2020 Jean Hibbert Award by the Etobicoke Historical Society.
Paul Joseph O’Connor was born on April 18, 1954, more than a century after the O’Connor family first settled in the Alderwood area to farm in 1851. When the farmland was turned into subdivisions of modest homes, the O’Connors stayed on to become essential members of the growing community. Paul’s grandfather, John P. O’Connor, for example, was the first and only chief of Alderwood’s volunteer fire department from 1931 to 1956.
Paul attended Michael Power High School and then the Erindale Campus of the University of Toronto, where he studied Public Administration with courses in Political Science and History. This led to an interesting job as a Customs Broker specializing in Trade Compliance. He became an expert in helping his clients navigate the many regulations surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
But Paul’s greatest interest was history – all sorts of history but above all, the history of his Alderwood neighbourhood and his family’s role in it. He wrote the Alderwood chapter in the well-received Villages of Etobicoke book in the 1980s. He was also a cousin to the famous O’Connor Sisters, who sang on the Vaudeville circuit from 1910 to 1937, returning home each summer to Alderwood. The circuit’s only authentic six-sister act, they appeared with many famous personalities of the era, from Al Jolson to Red Skelton. Paul documented their history.
Paul worked for 10 years to get a plaque erected near their now-demolished home on Connorvale Avenue and it honoured both the Lafferty family, who were Black pioneer farmers and the O’Connors who bought the Lafferty’s home. In the 1990s and early 2000s Paul was responsible for getting another half-dozen plaques placed around south Etobicoke. They commemorated the Long Branch Race Track, the seizure of the Adam Beck School by unemployed men during the Depression, and pioneer settler Col. Samuel Smith among others.
Paul and his neighbour, firefighter Alan Anketell, founded the Alderwood Historical Society in the late 1990s and it met regularly for a dozen years or more, featuring topics of local historical interest. After Alan’s sudden passing in March, 1999, Paul kept the society going. It was eventually folded into the Etobicoke Historical Society, but Paul’s research continued.
In addition to his volunteer work locally, Paul was on the Board of Directors of Heritage Toronto from 2003 to 2007 and was a member of the Board of Directors of Montgomery’s Inn from 2000 to 2004. He wrote columns for local newspapers and served his community in other capacities, for example as a member of the Etobicoke Safety Council from 1979 to 1981 and as a Director of the local Lions Club in the same period.
Paul O’Connor died of COVID-19 on April 25, 2020 at the age of 66