Barbara A. O'Connor

 Barbara A. O'Connor

“My birth and death dates are NOT important. It's the DASH in between.”

Michele Roldan-Shaw fully covered Barb's 95 year DASH in her article for The Bluffton Breeze.

No one escapes the passage of time; but if you're having fun you might hardly even notice it. This has been the motto of Bluffton resident Barb O'Connor for so long that she not only refuses to reveal her age, she's actually become uncertain of it herself.

Let's examine the facts:

Her hair is gray. She lives in Sun City. Her resume is long and includes 14 years of teaching, extensive travels around the globe, and completion of machinist training at a technical college, after which she became the only female in the production division of an aerospace firm. From all of this one may deduce she's been around for some time. On the other hand, her blue eyes shine like a child's. Her step conserves sufficient springy like-force to power journeys all over the Lowcountry, which she seems intent on exploring top-to-bottom. She delights in the unexpected and nothing really shocks her. Her desire to learn is so insatiable that she does not have a computer for fear she'd never sleep; thus the telephone remains her most sophisticated form of communication. She wants to do it all and might wish her days to go unnumbered, yet she lives each one well enough to be her last.

Conclusion: Barb O'Connor is ageless.

Here is a woman whose boundless energy is fueled by curiosity, enthusiasm, good humor, and above all the will to serve others. She is heavily involved in all sorts of volunteer work, which to her equates more fun activities. WEGO, the Sun City club she founded in 1998 (What Ever's Going On- W.E.G.O!) informs members on cultural happenings, arranges carpools and logistics, and motivates people who otherwise might not get out much. “WEGO to me is a mission,” Barb says. “I try to help residents—I don't want them sitting at home twiddling their thumbs!” So she acts as instigator, mastermind and fearless leader, and if you think that implies a hint of mischief you're correct. For example, she likes to tell women she's taking them to the country club; she lets them get all dolled up, then enjoys the looks on their faces as they arrive for steak dinner at the rather crusty looking Harold's Country Club in Yemassee, one of her favorite establishments. Though she'd never admit it, Barb is especially revered by single women new to the area.

She does not recall being a particularly venturesome child – her parents never had to pull her back from any brink while living in New England)– yet by the time she went overseas as a young adult to teach, wanderlust had taken hold. She spent her free time touring Europe and the Near East by car, alone or with three other women in her “Gang of Four”--and this at a time when female independence was not yet in vogue. Arriving at remote villages Barb often got swept away. “I would go to a place and love it so much that I felt almost hyper,” she recalls. ”I had to tell myself okay, it'll be here—you can come back. Now I'm like that here in the South, because whenever I take my WEGOs to a new location, I come home with five more places I want to visit. I've been doing this for fourteen years and I still have a box full of ideas.”

“I really try to concentrate on the cultural and historical aspects of this area,” she continues. “My main goal is to make the residents aware of what's going on around them, because I was so excited to discover it myself. When I first learned about the Gullah culture I thought whoa, how come nobody told us? It's one of the most unique cultures in the nation! I call Bluffton my hometown, so I want people to get the spirit of Bluffton, the state of mind. They talk about two hour tours of Bluffton, but it took me all day! Then I'd say, 'Well, we can come back and finish tomorrow.”'

To Barb, the spirit of Bluffton is about caring for your neighbor, honoring history, and living in tune with the river. Blufftonians themselves are quick to mention eccentricity, a tradition Barb carries on in her group. “I call them my Wacky WEGOs.” she says, “I tell them not to be surprised, to expect anything at any moment. There's this sense of adventure, and we're all supporting one another and having a good time.”

She recalls a favorite day with the WEGOs, years ago when everyone was new to the area and they had plenty to chose from. It was Barb's birthday—in fact the twenty-two people in the group corresponded precisely to the date—but she didn't want anyone making a big deal out of that so the outing provided a perfect diversion. She took them to Hilton Head for a series of madcap escapades beginning at Coligny Beach, where she bade everyone form a circle holding hands. “From now on I want you to concentrate on where you are,” she instructed. “Just breathe it in. Whatever I expose you to today, think about that and not your worries.” Then she had them blow all their troubles into imaginary bottles which they capped and chucked into the sea (an idea she got from a song by Gullah group the Hallelujah Singers.) “You are all now island children without a care in the world,” Barb pronounced.

A December highlight for the WEGOs was to lovingly serve as volunteers at the Community Christmas Day Dinner. It was a joy to celebrate Christmas with those away from home and family or who otherwise could not celebrate on their own.

The dinner was a local tradition for many years, and WEGOs had long been helping as staff. So when it got discontinued in 2002 Barb said, “This cannot be.” she spent the following summer going around to every restaurant on Hilton Head in hopes of finding one willing to host the event, and big enough to accommodate it. “I remember the day that I came home in tears,” Barb said, “because there were just three more places on my list. I said, 'I'll do those tomorrow and then that's it, this is the end of the tradition.' Well, the very next restaurant I called was Sticky Fingers, and the manager said, 'Sure, I'll do it.' He had been helping with the Thanksgiving dinner at Hudson's, so he knew all about how to organize it.”

At that point Barb took it upon herself to reinstate the whole thing, and spearheaded the dinner for over 13 years. Barb encourages anyone to attend—she always encouraging people to do things.

“I strongly suggest that no one limit their activities because of age,” she says. “People look at what others their age are doing, and if it's less than they're doing they kind of think well, I guess I can't do that either. But your sense of adventure should be attuned to your mental desire and physical ability, not your birthday. Very few people know my age, I never tell it, and I guess they could Google it but nobody ever talks about it”

I asked Barb, “So after all this going and doing and being, what is the meaning of it all? What is the meaning of life?”

“Well, it's a very simple answer,” she replied, “the one most of us have. We want to make each other happy.”

I suggested that perhaps she was giving humanity the benefit of the doubt, that quite a few might consider life to be about making themselves happy; but Barb continued undeterred.

“We're here to serve one another,” she affirmed, “to love each other as we do ourselves. And it comes easy to love ourselves, but sometimes we have trouble loving others.”

It seems safe to say this is one type of trouble Barb O'Connor will never have.

To Know Her...Is To Love Her!

Please join us as we celebrate Barb's remarkable life!

Per Barb's request - PLEASE DO NOT wear black clothes to her Visitation and Prayer/Memorial Service.

Visitation will be Monday, September 15, 2025 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Sauls Funeral Home 90 Simmonsville Rd., Bluffton SC 29910

Prayer/Memorial Service will be 2:00 – 3:00 PM at Sauls.

Those wishing to attend the inurnment will proceed to St. Gregory the Great Church 31 St. Gregory Drive off of Rt. 278. Bluffton SC

Columbarium is located behind the church to the right of the Family Center with ample parking. (There is a bit of a walk to the Columbarium with limited benches.)

As much as Barb loved flowers, she preferred enjoying them in nature. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Barbara's memory can be made to;

Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception PO Box 716 Stockbridge MA 01262 or online memorialsonedenhill.org

Stephen Ministries 2045 Innerbelt Business Center Drive St. Louis Missouri 63114-5765 or online stephenministries.org

THANK YOU FOR LOVING BARB.