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| August O'Connor in meadow with big bodhran. |
AUGUST O'CONNOR (1951--2023)
Born in Southern California in 1951, the middle girl between two brothers, Raleigh and Greg, August O'Connor early experienced a love of animals, drama and mystery. She raised pet rats and played with snakes. And face-painted, dressed in leotard, rabbit skins, leather aviator helmet and shaking a coyote-skull rattle, she entertained her high school classmates as "Animal Woman: Protector of all speechless creatures." She starred in student plays, performed in an all-girl band and, starting as a freshman, she edited her high school's literary magazine.
After graduation, while living in Claremont, she met and married Bill O'Connor. Shortly afterwards they moved to Capitola where they attended St. John's Episcopal Church before moving to San Francisco to work at Grace Cathedral.
For eight years at the Cathedral, August O'Connor served as assistant verger, supporting Bishop Swing in ceremony, designing vestments and providing counseling, For six years she worked as chaplain at San Francisco General Hospital during the rise of the AIDS epidemic.
In recorded conversation with San Francisco social historian Lynne Gerber about her AIDS and other work, August recalled: "Lots of different lives but there is a chaplaincy thread running though it. The thread is love, I'd say, the thread is willingness to love. And to be loved, you know, because when you open your heart to someone, you might not be loved, you know." August's motto, painted on her gate post, is: "Every blessing on all beings."
August has worked in every aspect of the visual arts from large oil paintings to cartoons. In the 70s she was Art Director of Good Times, Santa Cruz's largest weekly newspaper. She designed logos for several businesses including Zoccoli's Deli and Pink Godzilla; producing signs, murals and window displays for numerous local shops. She also fashioned necklaces, earrings, bracelets, Celtic knot tattoo designs and unusual hand-hammered copper sculptures based on double spirals which she called "Buddha-mind roller coasters."
After leaving Grace Cathedral, August and her friend Nick Gardner began attending Native American sweat lodge ceremonies in Marin and Shasta counties under the direction of Karuk medicine man, Charlie "Red Hawk" Thom. When she moved back to Capitola, August mentored under medicine man Indio, eventually running her own sweat lodge events when Indio became ill. August's sweat ceremonies, carried out with Nick Gardner on the beach a few miles south of Pigeon Point lighthouse, drew a wide variety of attendees primarily from the nearby University in Santa Cruz. Also with Nick Gardner, she enjoyed many trips into the wilderness which she loved.
In her home in Capitola, on one city lot, August put together a voluptuous Mediterranean garden crowned by an orchard of olive, apple, plum, lemon, loquat and persimmon trees. In addition to wild profusions of flowers, the garden produced food – lettuce, tomatoes, beans and potatoes as well as fruit from its trees. August's garden was a haven for bees, butterflies, bats and small mammals and had been officially certified as Wildlife Habitat #29951 by the National Wildlife Foundation.
August was a splendid chef, could create a tasty meal out of most anything. At San Francisco gatherings, she garnered admiration for her party specialty: chocolate truffles. Her turmeric toast made an unusual breakfast treat and August's mushroom omelettes were arguably the best in the known universe.
August sang and played guitar and bodhran (Irish frame drum). With flute-and-whistle player Kim Fulton-Bennett, they formed the Celtic duo Dobhran (Gaelic for "otter") which played at weddings, wineries, coffee shops and private parties and they also recorded a few instrumental CDs. Dobhran has performed at numerous Scottish and Irish festivals in Santa Cruz and Ben Lomond. A familiar presence at local Irish music sessions, August recently started a new group called Blarney with Kim, Nick Herbert and Matt Johnson, which has performed on stage, at private parties and most recently at an Irish wake in Boulder Creek.
Friends have described August's character variously as "playful dignity", as "innocent sophistication", as "kaleidoscopic life force", as "remarkable, unique, eccentric", and as "a tempestuous whirlwind." She herself explained "My life/is one kiss/with life."
She was hospitalized recently in Santa Cruz for a serious infection. And, on March 24, a week after St. Patrick's Day, early in the morning at age 72, this former chaplain, artist, musician, sweat lodge leader, gardener, beautiful and loving woman, August (Augie) O'Connor, passed away peacefully in her sleep.
Says Nick Herbert: "August came from a larger place and shared some of that with the rest of us."
Said one good friend: "August filled pages; she was a tome."
Added another: "August was an Irish rose."
I LIKE MY HANDS
https://quantumtantra.blogspot.com/2023/07/i-like-my-hands.html
14 comments:
Kind words well put.
She LIVED her life, with that Kiss and filled our lives with another
Beautifully captured, Nick. She remains forever
She was an inspiring person. Tamara & I were lucky to have attended one of her Celtic knot drawing sessions. Blessings on her light. 🕯
“Until Our Great Reunion on God’s Golden Shore!”
Love you August
I never knew all this about August. She was quite a woman!
Never met August, Nick, but thanks for the beautiful introduction.
I'm so sorry for the loss to you and the world. I knew August through Celtic slow sessions, where she was always so full of life and music and fun, and made me feel appreciated - reading your memorial, her life was so much more amazing than I ever knew.
Sad to hear that August has moved on - somehow so unexpectedly. Thanks for sharing all the ways that she enjoyed her life.
She will be missed by many.
August also decoded the pictographs in the Book of Kells, and had lots to say about what the Celtic priests had to say about the ruling Christian priests — including satire! And she could communicate with wild animals at a profound level.
Mark Roest wrote that; couldn’t log in.
Book of Kells was one of August's favorites, Mark, which she interpreted with her own eccentric scholarship.
And so says I to a passer by
Who was that maid
with the nut brown hair?"
He smiled at me and he said, said he
"That was a gem in Ireland's crown.
Of August O'Conner I speak,
Lived near Soquel Creek
She was the Star of Capitola town!"
In the spring of 1965 my family moved from one Los Angeles suburb to another. I was 13, a lonely outcast in a new school full of kids that had grown up together. Then I met Susan Lintner, an artistic and eccentric girl like no other I had ever known. She called herself Tress and a year later she named me “Shag” for my wild wavy locks. We didn’t know there was an x-rated meaning to the word and when I found out I defended the name defiantly because Augie had given it to me. Yes, she had upgraded from Tress to Augie which as an adult, years later, she settled on August. Shag and Augie. Lifelong pals. On graduation day 1969 everyone wore their cap and gown over dressy clothes as we were celebrating afterwards with our parents. Not Augie. She wore painter’s clothes, jeans rolled up, and left immediately to finish work on her new apartment in Claremont. She couldn’t get away from Covina fast enough. Augie met and married Bill O’Connor. They bought a little home in Capitola and moved around the same time I moved to San Jose. We stayed in touch. I lived on Russian Hill when Bill and Augie lived in the apartment reserved for officials of Grace Cathedral. They seemed happy when they visited my photographer husband and I. When she lived in a studio apartment nearby I joined her for several evening long walks. Later getting to Capitola was sporadic but I was always welcomed as a treasured friend. Our bond was unshakable and I may have been one of a very small, select few friends from the past. On one visit she stood in her living room proudly pointing out “no screens!!!” No tv, no computer for our gal August! My biggest regret is not calling more often or traveling to Santa Cruz to visit. Sometimes we trick ourselves into believing our friends will always be there. I was devastated when I called Feb 10th this year to hear the message the number was out of service. I knew immediately what sad news I would find if I searched the web for an obituary. Thankfully I found this blog and the loving tribute by Nick. Bless you Nick. Your description captured her essence perfectly. I’m grateful for 58 years of inspiration and friendship we shared. RIP my dear, one of a kind friend.
Duchess of Mirth, where can I find your blog?
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