Dennis ‘Den’ Connors RIP 9/3/2009
(This obit appeared in the Troy Record)
PEPPERELL, MA — Dennis “Den” Connors, 58, systems administrator for town of Pepperell, MA, died Thursday, September 3, 2009, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Nashua, NH, after a courageous battle with Hodgkins lymphoma. He was the husband of Rosemary (Dunavin) Connors whom he married on July 9, 1977.

Born in Troy on September 9, 1950, he was a son of the late Francis T. and Ruth (Levanway) Connors. Mr. Connors was a graduate of Troy High School Class of 1968 and received his B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and his M.S. from State University at Albany.

He was president of Knuwave Design Inc. in Pepperell, MA, from 2003 to 2008 when he continued on to be principal consultant from 2008 until his passing. He served as systems administrator for the town of Pepperell from 2003 to his passing and was a firefighter/EMT for the Pepperell Fire Department Hook and Ladder Company.

Mr. Connors was an active member of the Community Church in Pepperell where he served on many committees. He enjoyed flying and was a private pilot since 2003.

In addition to his wife of 32 years, he is survived by a son, Christopher Connors and his husband, Benjamin Monopoli of Jamaica Plain, MA; a daughter, Amanda Michelle Bergeron and her husband Charles of Nashua, NH; and a brother, David W. Connors and his wife Janice of Troy. He was pre-deceased by a sister, Cynthia Murray.

Visiting hours at the MARCHAND FUNERAL HOME, 16 Pleasant St, Pepperell, on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m.

A funeral service will be held on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Community Church of Pepperell, Townsend Street, Pepperell. Burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, Pepperell.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to the Community Church Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 320, Pepperell, MA 01463; or to the National Marrow Donor Program at www.marrow.org. For on-line condolences visit www.marchandfuneralhome.com.

The following obit appeared on the Marchand Funeral Home Web Page, and contains a more comprehensive work history:

Dennis “Den” Connors, age 58, Systems Administrator for Town of Pepperell, died Thursday, September 3, 2009 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Nashua, NH after a courageous battle with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was the husband of Rosemary (Dunavin) Connors whom he married on July 9, 1977. Born in Troy, NY on September 9, 1950, he was a son of the late Francis T. and Ruth (Levanway) Connors. Mr. Connors was a graduate of Troy High School Class of 1968 and received his B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and his M.S. from State University at Albany, NY. Prior to moving to Pepperell in 1983, he resided in Tucson, AZ for three years where he worked as a Senior Communication Specialist for the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, and as a Scientific Programmer/Analyst for the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Once residing in Pepperell, he was employed as a Manager at Wang Laboratories from 1983 to 1991, Manager at NEC Technologies in Boxborough, MA from 1991 to 1995, Associate Vice President of Software Development at System Soft Corp. in Natick, MA from 1995 to 1996, Department Manager of Hardware Development at Packard-Bell NEC in Boxborough, MA from 1996 to 1998, Director of Electrical Engineering & Software at Product Genesis from 1998 to 1999, Vice President of Engineering at Sema LHS Priority Call, Inc. in Wilmington from 1999 to 2000, Director of Wireless Development at Empirix, Inc. in Wilmington, MA from 2000 to 2002, and President of Knuwave Design Inc. in Pepperell from 2003 to 2008 when he continued on to be Principal Consultant from 2008 to his passing. While serving as President of Knuwave Design Inc., he was employed by the Town of Pepperell as the Systems Administrator from 2003 to his passing. Mr. Connors was an Amateur Radio Operator since 1977 serving on WB2SPK from 1977 to 1980, KD2S from 1980 to present, AMSAT where he worked as the PACSAT Project Manager from 1983 to 1985 and AVP, Spacecraft Systems. Mr. Connors was a member of many associations and organizations throughout his lifetime to include the Information Systems Technology Committee, Pepperell Emergency Management, Firefighter/EMT of the Pepperell Fire Department Hook and Ladder Company, where he was Assistant Treasurer, Pepperell Emergency Medical Service, Founder and President of the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio, American Astronomical Society, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He was also the author and presenter of the wireless municipal systems presentations for the Massachusetts Municipal Association. Mr. Connors was an active member of the Community Church in Pepperell where he served on many committees, and was a Cub master for Pepperell Pack 41 from 1989 to 1993 and Scoutmaster of Pepperell Troop 13 from 1993 to 1996. He also enjoyed flying and was a private pilot since 2003. Besides his wife of 32 years, he is survived by a son, Christopher Connors and his husband, Benjamin Monopoli of Jamaica Plain, MA, a daughter, Amanda Michelle Bergeron and her husband Charles of Nashua, NH, and a brother, David W. Connors and his wife Janice of Troy, NY. He was pre-deceased by a sister, Cynthia Murray. Visiting hours at the MARCHAND FUNERAL HOME, 16 Pleasant St, Pepperell on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held on Tuesday morning at 10 o’clock at the Community Church of Pepperell, Townsend St., Pepperell. Burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, Pepperell. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to the Community Church Memorial Fund, P. O. Box 320, Pepperell, MA 01463 or to the National Marrow Donor Program at www.marrow.org.

John Schatz, Troy High and RPI Classmate of Den's, writes (9/8/2009):

 This has been a real bad day for me as you can't imagine as I have known Dennis since 2nd grade and though not totally joined at the hip, we did some things together way back when that are still having a small impact out there today.
   I had been in contact with him every couple of months, depending on his schedule. He'd let me know that he was going in for one treatment or another and these would keep him out of touch and/or in isolation for weeks sometimes. So to not hear from him for a while was not unusual. Actually,it was getting to the time to send out some more email to see how the previous round had progressed.

    I'm just about typed-out and mentally shot, so I'm going to cut-and-paste from letters I've sent to Tommy Compo, Craig Bryce, Bob Genthner and Tom Pye. Edit as you see fit or drop all of my text, but I'd like you to at least send out the pictures of him at WRPI. Those were truly special, happy times for him and I. I'm sure life had other 'moments' (desperately digging for humor) like wife and children that completely eclipsed those at WRPI, but these times preceded that and are those that I'm most familiar with----  And I apologize in advance to those of you who never did collage radio as you won't understand the/my enthusiasm factor...

So my attempt at a mini-eulogy for my friend Den-

    Dennis' middle initial was 'T' and as an avid Trekkie, way before that term existed, Den probably wished his middle initial "T" really stood for 'Tiberius.'

    Did you guys know that Den and I were contemplating going to Woodstock? Neither a car between us, but that was a minor detail way back when. We kept our eyes on the goings on before the event- Canceled here, banned there. Rumors that we were hearing had the event located at 5 different locations in two states- we finally put an end to the idea when the group we both wanted to hear, The Moody Blues, canceled. I think we both made the correct choice of staying North and DRY  : )

      Probably Den's next life changing event was when he walked across the street from THS and did a Spring of '68 tour of RPI- One of the stops was the WRPI studios. Mono; then with an ERP of -700 watts. Yeah, that IS a minus sign.
Well, as many before, and many a student since, (myself included) Den found that collage radio was one heck of an addiction. At the time, RPI was trying out it's new accelerated Masters program- a masters in 5 years- WRPI-ites referred to the station as the decelerated Bachelors program- your bachelors degree in 5 years! (Just ask Ed Dague '64) At any rate Den fell in love with radio. To the degree that, as Summer approached, he asked me (in Prof Budrakey's elec. shop class) if I could build him an AM transmitter- Just a transmitter? Heck no! Tommy Compo and I did  him a whole station in his back porch (all of 10x10, maybe) and I mean instant start turntables, mixer w/cue, mics and tape deck. And a 35 W X-mitter. Needless to say, it was all hand crafted and pirate. Range? It went up and down the streets of Watervliet a whole two or three blocks. The 35 watts on the little 6L6 output tube's plate ensured the plate was always glowing cherry red, but we only wanted the station to last for just 24 hours. Tommy and I for sure stayed the whole stint awake 99% of the time with an occasional cat nap under the audio board when things were running perfectly- And Den was EVERYWHERE- Oh yeah; God only knows where Den found him, but there was this 13 year old kid that was doing the announcing- with a bass voice so low as to rattle your soul, that was made just for AM radio- his name- John Wheeler, but you might know him better by his air name, WTRY's John Gabriel.
                                           Did anyone listen? I don't know. We didn't care! We Were Having Fun!!

  So Den goes to RPI, probable signed up as a WRPI club member before signing up as a student, and gets totally involved in the station. Timing is everything- this was when WRPI starts the actual facilities hardware transition between 1kW mono to 5kW, (20kW ERP) stereo. Den was in heaven as he was now the Director of Studio Engineering, which means if there is an electron moving anywhere in the studios, Den's responsible for it, present and future- All the new stereo everything equipment and also ensure the wiring x-over from mono still allows one to keep a signal out there even if one turntable is in Studio A, the second in Studio B and the announcer in Studio C, and then, just for giggles, be able to 'flip a switch' at 1AM to do stereo Proof of Performance stereo transmission testing for an hour--- and on and on and on.
                                            He was a very happy camper indeed doing that.

So I'm ending up with the pix. I didn't take them, but I've had an autographed one of Den @ the turntable hanging in my office For Decades- He came by as an interviewer one year and we were able to spend some time together.

d-con @ the tt-         This possibly during his radio show, 'The Mnemonic Device' [it'll go to your head]  (his words).

DoS E                       Den's in the window, doing his Dir of Studio Engineering thingy

den loosing his head  This is Classic Den, the happy Den I'll remember - - -

Now all I have to do is get my head screwed back on straight  : (
John Schatz