Celebrating the Life of Tony O’Connor
Sunday, 23rd May 2010, Tony O’Connor gently and peacefully passed away at home with his wife Jacqui, daughter Samantha, and son-in-law Steve, by his side.
Eighteen months prior, Tony was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme - a brain tumour. He was initially given a very limited time. During that first year Tony underwent treatment, including surgeries by Sydney based Surgeon, Dr. Charles Teo, which greatly helped lengthened the time he had with his family. In early 2010 Tony realised his time with us was coming to an end, but he accepted the next stage of his journey with grace, honour and dignity. There was never a day when there wasn’t some kind of joy and laughter in the home, and the peace that Tony radiated remains with his family and friends today.
Tony played parts of himself into every piece of music that he wrote, and his family take comfort and solace that the world can share in the peace that he left behind simply by pressing play.
Hand in hand with his partner Jacqui, Tony moved to the Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast over twenty five years prior to start a new chapter in their lives and prepare for the birth of their daughter Samantha. It was in the peace and solitude of the mountains that Tony created and crafted his pioneering music that touched so many lives and became his most acclaimed legacy. Although his music entered so many people’s hearts and, to some extent, made him a public figure, he remained a very private person, favouring the simple life.
There are unreleased albums, old and new, that will, in time, find their way into the world… but that is a story for another day.
A week after Tony’s passing, a small group of his closest friends and relatives gathered together to celebrate the life of a wonderful man, who inspired peace in the lives of everyone he met, and all who heard his music. Although a very private gathering, some speakers have allowed us to share here some of what they had to say about Tony, and how he touched their lives.
Leonardo da Vinci once said…
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well lived brings happy death.”
Tony’s life was truly Well Lived. He seized the carp with both hands, wouldn’t let go, then went with the flow. I guess he was Piscean after all. A renaissance man, a journeyman — a man of honour, integrity, compassion, humility, and a man with a thoroughly wicked sense of humour.
Anyone who spent time with Tony would have noticed his liking for jokes, especially practical jokes, but note also that his practical jokes were never intended to humiliate — always to enlighten, to surprise us beyond our static patterns, our habits, to waken us to the vibrant reality resonating within and around us. Essentially, he wanted us to experience the Here and Now. For Tony knew, when we live fully in the present moment, we are timeless. We gain perspective over such things as the cycle of birth, life and death, and, no longer something to be feared, it becomes part of an intricate, harmonious pattern. The song of the universe. The song of Love. Tony knew well the sound of that eternal harmony and devoted his energies to try to reproduce portions of it so that the rest of us may share in tasting the opus he heard. Opus Mundi a la Tony.
Even as I speak, Tony intimately and profoundly touches the lives of millions of people. His music brings more peace to this world in one day, than the entirety of the UN’s forces combined. I always told Tony he was in the wrong industry and that his true industry was Transportation — as his music transports people beyond the ordinariness of everyday being to a very special, very private, and yet universal place. If one cannot separate the idea of Tony from his music, there’s a very good reason for this.
Tony was an Arch-Wizard, a Techno-Mage, and an Alchemist; he performed alchemical marriages many times. He magically married his art with the world of business — in and of itself an exceptionally difficult task, and one few manage to do as successfully or as ethically.
He married his creativity with technology — another Herculean task. For someone who owned a toolkit as useful as flippers in a bathtub, he mastered technology, he devoured it, chewed it up and spat it back out — “that was great, but it’s not there yet”. Tony had technology developers ringing him to find out how to work their own machines.
And of course he married the Magical Miss Metropolitan, no contest there, they were onto a clear winner, and together they had Samantha, an indigo child before the term indigo was invented, and with those magical marriages, transmuted all they touched to gold.
I read an online comment “Tony’s music is beyond superlatives” — and that points to the heart — music is a language beyond words.
Tony understood the true nature of music; not bound by time or space, not limited by culture, by geography, or even species — plants and animals all love Tony’s music. Tony knew that music is the universal language of emotions, and Tony spoke that language with wisdom, with love, with integrity, with humility and with honour.
Tony knew the reality of the timeless, and his music stands as an eternal beacon, a guiding hand gently drawing us into that sacred place in all of our hearts, that uniquely intimate and yet universal space. Tony’s music nurtures us, and says to us… be at peace, be kind, love one another, and most of all, be aware — feel the fun, the joy and the wonder in the ever-present. In his own words… “Experience the Magic. If music be the food of love, Tony created banquets enough to feed the multitudes for generations to come.
Thank you Tony, you honour us all.
“Tony was an extremely private man whose life work — his music — was a very public expression of himself, his values and the way he saw the world. His music made him everybody’s friend. Tony and Jac never faltered in their hope that Tony could beat that space invader that had taken up a room in his head. In more ways than one he did beat it, as they were able to have the time to say what they needed to say, resolve what they needed to resolve, and love like they never loved before.” — Amy
“Music… is the non-linear cosmic language encouraging our consciousness to expand. Music… communicates on many different levels of consciousness and thus our reality. Tony helped lift many and varied consciousnesses to the light, encoding us to go forward in peace. Thank you Tony.” — T Cooper
“Between us, we have known Tony for over 26 years — from the caravan park at Mapleton, to when we last spent time together at Christmas. Tony, thank you for your friendship, thank you for the very best of times. You will always be loved, you will always be missed. And for your generous spirit and love of a good laugh, you will always be remembered. Until we meet again dear friend.” — The Pearce Family