Elizabeth Margaret O'Connor

Elizabeth (Betty) Margaret O’Connor, born July 18, 1941, in New Haven, Connecticut and died peacefully at home in River Ridge, La on April 14, 2024. She was 82. Betty, known affectionately by her family as Auntie Honey, is survived by her nieces Elizabeth Susan Beasley and Heather Beasley Doyle (Jay). She was also a cherished great aunt to Richard Glenn Hays (Patty), James Thomas Hays, Michael McGinnis Hays (Sara), Alevia Doyle, and Glenn Doyle; and a great-great aunt to Angelo Alden Ziccardi, Richard William Hays, Wyatt Hofmann Hays, Henry McGinnis Hays, Connor Harron Hays, and Quinn Louise Hays. She will be greatly missed by her brother-in-law, Glenn Beasley (Trish).

Betty was preceded in death by her loving husband, Paul Gregory O’Connor; her parents, Ernest Valentine Hofmann and Elizabeth Margaret Hofmann; and her sister Susan Elizabeth Beasley. She found joy in the symphony, music, traveling, needlepoint, golfing, tai chi, reading, boating and sailing, and meaningful conversation.

Betty and her late husband started and grew their own home health care business beginning in the early 1980s. Throughout her career, she worked as a physical therapist, helping people to reclaim mobility, enhancing their quality of life.

She was a dedicated member of the New Orleans Streetcar Stitchers of the American Needlepoint Guild for many years, was active in the East Jefferson Regional Library Book Club and the Dickinson Fellowship Book Club, and regularly met with the Retired Officers Wives Club. Additionally, she served as the Mardi Gras Queen for the Bards of Bohemia and spoke dearly of that privilege. 

The force of Betty’s love was passionate.  She and her late husband Paul shared an unbreakable bond and she cared tenderly for her mother for many years. Betty will be remembered for her warmth, love, brilliant sense of humor, and the many good times she shared with her family and friends.

May she rest in peace.

A viewing will take place between 10 a.m. and noon on Thursday, April 25 at Jacob Schoen & Son, 3827 Canal St. New Orleans, La 70119, followed immediately by funeral service at 12pm. An additional service in Pennsylvania will take place this summer, with a graveside service and interment at Beaverdale Memorial Park in New Haven, Connecticut at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Hamden Hall Community Day School (in Connecticut) and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, organizations close to Betty’s heart.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Elizabeth Margaret O'Connor, please visit our floral store.