Dr. Joseph David Connors passed away in Marshfield, peacefully at 81 years old on March 8th, 2026. Joe lived in Pawling New York for 32 years and in New York for 40 years.

Joe was born in Calais, Maine on February 12, 1945, a day and month that he shared with two extraordinary men, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

Joe came into the world at one of the darkest times in twentieth century history, World War II. A day after his birth, the allies fire-bombed Dresden which provided the basis for Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. Despite these less than optimal beginnings, he managed to survive and flourish, thanks in no small part to his extraordinary parents John and Julia as well as to his own indomitable determination to succeed in spite of chronic health problems and the hostile climate that the 50s and 60s meted out to gay people.

The second oldest of seven children, he grew up near the city limits of Boston’s south side, West Roxbury. His immediate neighborhood was called “the Grove”, a wooded section of unpaved roads, ledges and swamps that bore more resemblance to 19th century rural America. Joe went to Catholic Schools for twelve years, first St. Theresas and then St. Thomas Aquinas. High School in Jamaica Plain.

While working part time at the Harley Private Hospital in Dorchester, He put himself through Boston State College (BA), University of Maine (Ma) and Loyola University of Chicago which sent him to Paris for a year of research and study. He returned from France, completed the program and earned a doctorate in history (1977). That same year during a snowstorm in Harvard Square on December 14, 1977, he met the love of his life Noel Ortega and the two of them settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Not feeling that academics were a good match, he first worked for the State of Massachusetts Dept. of Social Services and then subsequently was self- employed in landscaping and residential maintenance until 1985 when his partner secured a professorship at Pace University, New York. Since that time, he worked in occasional teaching positions, (Pace University, Mercy College and Mount St. Mary College (Newburgh) as well as at the Bronx County Historical Society where he was the educational coordinator. He finally found his niche with Westchester County Government where he advanced to Supervisor by the time he retired in 2007.

Joe’s interests were many and varied. He loved gardening and his property in Pawling, New York was covered with flowers as well as beautiful trees and shrubs. He had a passion for genealogy and family history. He was especially interested in his French-Canadian roots on his mother’s side. To that end, his partner and he kept an apartment for three years in Montreal putting down roots on his mother’s side.

To the end of his life, he had a special affection for Canada and Quebec to which his French ancestors migrated from Normandy during the 17th century. His other interests included bridge, his stamp collection and his love of reading, which was best reflected in dispassion for the New York Times, which he considered a daily “trip around the world”.

However, above all first and foremost were his friends beginning with his best friend, Noel, whom he married at Montreal’s Palais de Justice on October 6, 2007. His other friends go back to his magical days in Chicago (1968-1972) where he created a network of kindred spirits across America and in Europe that stayed with him his entire life. Of those and his brothers and sisters, he is most proud. The last few lines of an unpublished poem by Noel Coward best captured how Joe felt about this most important part of his life: “And remembered friends who are dead and gone, how happy they are, I cannot say but happy am I who loved them so.”

A Celebration of Joe’s life will be held in the Pawling area in the fall.

Gifts can be made in Joe's memory to: Dr. Alicia Morgans Research Fund at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, by mail to P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA. 02284, by phone: 1-800-525-4669 or online at: Dana Farber Memorial Giving