DR. WHO?
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
DENNIS O’CONNOR, MD
Aaron Burch
Dennis O’Connor, MD, has many titles. In addition to his lifetime of
work as an obstetrician, gynecologist and pathologist, Dr. O’Connor
is also a devoted husband, father and grandfather, as well as a retired
Colonel in the U.S. Army.
The military has been a part of Dr. O’Connor’s life since before he
was born. His father, Andrew, was stationed in Hawaii in 1939 and
survived Pearl Harbor. After finishing World War II as a sergeant,
Andrew O’Connor met his future wife, Blanche, before shipping
off to Korea. Shortly after, in 1948, Dennis O’Connor was born.
“I first met my father when I was introduced to him in 1954
when he returned from Korea,” Dr. O’Connor recalled. “Mom was
a secretary for the Office of Naval Affairs, which is how they met. I
was born in Oklahoma but we mostly lived in Pennsylvania while
dad was stationed in Korea.”
It was in Pennsylvania that Dr. O’Connor first discovered health
care, while staying with his grandmother. “There were old medical
texts there, I assume because much of medicine was homegrown in
the 1930s and 1940s. I just thought it was unbelievably fascinating.”
Although he kept medicine in the back of his mind from then on,
being an Army brat came first. The next 10 years were a whirlwind
of moves from New Jersey and New York to Germany, and back to
Virginia before heading to Germany a second time. Along the way,
Dr. O’Connor’s younger brother, Greg, was born.
“When we lived in Winchester, VA, dad was assigned to this place
called The Mountain. It was where the president, vice-president
and cabinet were supposed to go if we were bombed. It was highly
classified. So I didn’t see him much during the Cuban Missile Crisis
or when JFK was assassinated. Nobody knew what was going on
during that time.”
The family returned to Germany in 1964 where Dr. O’Connor
attended high school at the Frankfurt Military Base. To pass the
time growing up, he built scale models, sang in the school Glee
Club, and participated in the Boy Scouts and the Masons’ youth
group, The Order of DeMolay. The young Dr. O’Connor also traveled
throughout Europe with family and classmates.
“Berlin was the most interesting. It was a huge city, in some cases
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