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After 15 years fighting Parkinson’s disease my dad, John Connor, passed away on Monday. Here is a video from the last time I saw him, taking the last steps of his life.
The last two years of his life was spent in an out of hospitals and rehab facilities, trying to recover from falls, and then battling all the medical complications that followed: multiple UTIs, C. diff, congestive heart failure and many more. 
But even though his fight with Parkinson's was a huge part of the last part of his life, this is how I want to remember him: as the lovable, wise, "well dressed" goofball that he always was.
Dad loved his family and loved having kids. I knew this, but going through old photos of him this week, it was just so evident in his personality. Also, my god, he leaned way the hell in during the 70s.
John and Polly had a big family, 4 kids separated by 14 years. While we each experienced different parenting styles - more 'interventionist' w/ the 1st kids, downgraded to laissez faire by the time I showed up - they always loved us & taught us family is the most important thing
The greatest bond he and I had was baseball and the @orioles. I was never more happy than to be at Camden Yards w/ dad. And even though I never played, he and mom came out to watch @Shoremen9 anyway.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 He and my mom always prioritized giving back to the community, either through charity or volunteering at their church (@SPXBaltimore), but his greatest impact on the community was through coaching. And, boy-howdy, was he dressed for the role.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore He coached all of my siblings and I + all our friends in Towson Rec Council for three decades. He wanted to be a fair coach and let everybody have a chance to play, he wanted the kids he coached to learn how to be part of a team, and he wanted us all to have fun.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore Consequently, winning was not always the top priority or result, which was okay in the long run even for guys like @ChrisBensonCPA & @TimLacock, who always got stuck on our teams.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock But sometimes we did win! It just was not in a sport he ever played or really knew anything about - soccer. We did have some talented teams, but by the end of his time coaching I think he also had an idea of what he was doing.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock Also - his greatest coup was when, after being told by the league commissioner that 'Ireland' was not a viable World cup team & therefore he could not name our team 'Ireland' @FAIreland qualified for the World cup in 94. Every team henceforth was named team Ireland.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock @FAIreland After his coaching days ended, he got to finally live out the role he was made for: Grandfather. He loved his 9 grandchildren and they loved their G-Jack.
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock @FAIreland And of course, dad loved mom. They were married on November 25, 1967 and have been on an adventure ever since. My mom was his primary caregiver and she felt the toll of his disease in ways we cannot imagine. Here they are celebrating their 50th anniversary
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock @FAIreland Here is is his obituary mwfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Joh…
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock @FAIreland One of his, and my mom's favorite charities was Our Daily Bread in Baltimore and my mom has asked that instead of flowers, donations be made there in John's name catholiccharities-md.org/services/our-d… , along with...
@Orioles @Shoremen9 @SPXBaltimore @ChrisBensonCPA @TimLacock @FAIreland Helping Up Mission. givingengine.helpingupmission.org
And if you want to help fight Parkinson's - a disease which 60K Americans are diagnosed with every year - which still has no cure, please consider @MichaelJFoxOrg michaeljfox.org/donate/our-goa…
@MichaelJFoxOrg And as an exclamation point my dad, John Connor, fucking loved the Terminator jokes. He never explicitly said so, but you could tell he thought it was cool... but if we ever discover the involvement of any time-traveling robots in his demise there WILL be hell to pay.
