Nancy Fields O'Connor was active and involved, a take-charge woman who didn't pale in the shadow of her famous husband.
Her real name was Anne K. Fields, but she always used her nickname, Nancy. She and her brother, John, were both born in Spokane, Washington. It can be seen in both census records that she shows up in (1930 & 1940) and it was also in her obituary. (#46559983)
A native of Missoula Montana, Nancy Fields O'Connor was no Edith Bunker, the submissive, scattered television wife of Archie Bunker that Carroll O'Connor played to a "T" in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family." She was a University of Montana Graduate.
Nancy O'Connor passed away Monday at her home in Malibu, California, at the age of 84. She had suffered from Alzheimer's for 10 years, her brother John Fields said.
O'Connor was the daughter of Ralph and Hulda Miller Fields, who were also UM alums. A U.S. Forest Service family, they raised Nancy and John in Libby, Billings and St. Maries, Idaho, but mostly in Missoula on McLeod Avenue, Blaine Street and South Sixth Street East. Both children graduated from Paxson Grade School, Missoula County High School and, in 1951, the University of Montana.
It was at UM after World War II that Nancy met Carroll O'Connor. Both were working on university productions of "Life With Father" and "Winterset." Nancy followed Carroll to Ireland to complete his studies in 1951 and they were married the same year in Dublin.
Nancy O'Connor was an imposing woman, standing 6 feet tall. She had a major role in a minor 1976 film "A Whale of Tale."
"Nancy was a very good actress," her brother said. "She got her degree in fine arts and drama at the university, but she didn't get picked for parts because she was so tall. That was always a burden as far as her acting career went."
Her passions were widespread. When the O'Connors moved back to Missoula from Ireland, Carroll earned his master's degree in 1956 while Nancy developed the first comprehensive fine arts curriculum in Missoula's elementary schools.
In California, where they lived in Los Angeles and Malibu for more than 50 years, Nancy helped develop a charitable support group for a melanoma cancer research and treatment center at UCLA.
She was a member of the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which she helped design in 2004.
Nancy spent some 10 years gathering prints and cataloging her grandfather Fred E. Miller's stunning collection of some 600 photographs and 135 glass negatives taken of Montana's Crow Indians from 1895 to 1920. It's been shown at art and historical museums across the U.S. and is currently on load to the Great Plains Museum at the University of Nebraska.
"She was also very concerned and attentive to veterans' rights and programs for veterans," Dennison noted.
The O'Connors adopted a son, Hugh, in 1962 while Carroll was in Rome working on "Cleopatra." He, too, became an actor before committing suicide in 1995.
Funeral arrangements aren't complete but will probably be held Nov. 22 2014 in Malibu.
Tributes can be made to:
Melanoma Research, John Wayne Cancer Institute, St. John's Hospital, 2121 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.
Her real name was Anne K. Fields, but she always used her nickname, Nancy. She and her brother, John, were both born in Spokane, Washington. It can be seen in both census records that she shows up in (1930 & 1940) and it was also in her obituary. (#46559983)
A native of Missoula Montana, Nancy Fields O'Connor was no Edith Bunker, the submissive, scattered television wife of Archie Bunker that Carroll O'Connor played to a "T" in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family." She was a University of Montana Graduate.
Nancy O'Connor passed away Monday at her home in Malibu, California, at the age of 84. She had suffered from Alzheimer's for 10 years, her brother John Fields said.
O'Connor was the daughter of Ralph and Hulda Miller Fields, who were also UM alums. A U.S. Forest Service family, they raised Nancy and John in Libby, Billings and St. Maries, Idaho, but mostly in Missoula on McLeod Avenue, Blaine Street and South Sixth Street East. Both children graduated from Paxson Grade School, Missoula County High School and, in 1951, the University of Montana.
It was at UM after World War II that Nancy met Carroll O'Connor. Both were working on university productions of "Life With Father" and "Winterset." Nancy followed Carroll to Ireland to complete his studies in 1951 and they were married the same year in Dublin.
Nancy O'Connor was an imposing woman, standing 6 feet tall. She had a major role in a minor 1976 film "A Whale of Tale."
"Nancy was a very good actress," her brother said. "She got her degree in fine arts and drama at the university, but she didn't get picked for parts because she was so tall. That was always a burden as far as her acting career went."
Her passions were widespread. When the O'Connors moved back to Missoula from Ireland, Carroll earned his master's degree in 1956 while Nancy developed the first comprehensive fine arts curriculum in Missoula's elementary schools.
In California, where they lived in Los Angeles and Malibu for more than 50 years, Nancy helped develop a charitable support group for a melanoma cancer research and treatment center at UCLA.
She was a member of the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which she helped design in 2004.
Nancy spent some 10 years gathering prints and cataloging her grandfather Fred E. Miller's stunning collection of some 600 photographs and 135 glass negatives taken of Montana's Crow Indians from 1895 to 1920. It's been shown at art and historical museums across the U.S. and is currently on load to the Great Plains Museum at the University of Nebraska.
"She was also very concerned and attentive to veterans' rights and programs for veterans," Dennison noted.
The O'Connors adopted a son, Hugh, in 1962 while Carroll was in Rome working on "Cleopatra." He, too, became an actor before committing suicide in 1995.
Funeral arrangements aren't complete but will probably be held Nov. 22 2014 in Malibu.
Tributes can be made to:
Melanoma Research, John Wayne Cancer Institute, St. John's Hospital, 2121 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.
Nancy Fields O'Connor was active and involved, a take-charge woman who didn't pale in the shadow of her famous husband.
Her real name was Anne K. Fields, but she always used her nickname, Nancy. She and her brother, John, were both born in Spokane, Washington. It can be seen in both census records that she shows up in (1930 & 1940) and it was also in her obituary. (#46559983)
A native of Missoula Montana, Nancy Fields O'Connor was no Edith Bunker, the submissive, scattered television wife of Archie Bunker that Carroll O'Connor played to a "T" in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family." She was a University of Montana Graduate.
Nancy O'Connor passed away Monday at her home in Malibu, California, at the age of 84. She had suffered from Alzheimer's for 10 years, her brother John Fields said.
O'Connor was the daughter of Ralph and Hulda Miller Fields, who were also UM alums. A U.S. Forest Service family, they raised Nancy and John in Libby, Billings and St. Maries, Idaho, but mostly in Missoula on McLeod Avenue, Blaine Street and South Sixth Street East. Both children graduated from Paxson Grade School, Missoula County High School and, in 1951, the University of Montana.
It was at UM after World War II that Nancy met Carroll O'Connor. Both were working on university productions of "Life With Father" and "Winterset." Nancy followed Carroll to Ireland to complete his studies in 1951 and they were married the same year in Dublin.
Nancy O'Connor was an imposing woman, standing 6 feet tall. She had a major role in a minor 1976 film "A Whale of Tale."
"Nancy was a very good actress," her brother said. "She got her degree in fine arts and drama at the university, but she didn't get picked for parts because she was so tall. That was always a burden as far as her acting career went."
Her passions were widespread. When the O'Connors moved back to Missoula from Ireland, Carroll earned his master's degree in 1956 while Nancy developed the first comprehensive fine arts curriculum in Missoula's elementary schools.
In California, where they lived in Los Angeles and Malibu for more than 50 years, Nancy helped develop a charitable support group for a melanoma cancer research and treatment center at UCLA.
She was a member of the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which she helped design in 2004.
Nancy spent some 10 years gathering prints and cataloging her grandfather Fred E. Miller's stunning collection of some 600 photographs and 135 glass negatives taken of Montana's Crow Indians from 1895 to 1920. It's been shown at art and historical museums across the U.S. and is currently on load to the Great Plains Museum at the University of Nebraska.
"She was also very concerned and attentive to veterans' rights and programs for veterans," Dennison noted.
The O'Connors adopted a son, Hugh, in 1962 while Carroll was in Rome working on "Cleopatra." He, too, became an actor before committing suicide in 1995.
Funeral arrangements aren't complete but will probably be held Nov. 22 2014 in Malibu.
Tributes can be made to:
Melanoma Research, John Wayne Cancer Institute, St. John's Hospital, 2121 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.
Her real name was Anne K. Fields, but she always used her nickname, Nancy. She and her brother, John, were both born in Spokane, Washington. It can be seen in both census records that she shows up in (1930 & 1940) and it was also in her obituary. (#46559983)
A native of Missoula Montana, Nancy Fields O'Connor was no Edith Bunker, the submissive, scattered television wife of Archie Bunker that Carroll O'Connor played to a "T" in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family." She was a University of Montana Graduate.
Nancy O'Connor passed away Monday at her home in Malibu, California, at the age of 84. She had suffered from Alzheimer's for 10 years, her brother John Fields said.
O'Connor was the daughter of Ralph and Hulda Miller Fields, who were also UM alums. A U.S. Forest Service family, they raised Nancy and John in Libby, Billings and St. Maries, Idaho, but mostly in Missoula on McLeod Avenue, Blaine Street and South Sixth Street East. Both children graduated from Paxson Grade School, Missoula County High School and, in 1951, the University of Montana.
It was at UM after World War II that Nancy met Carroll O'Connor. Both were working on university productions of "Life With Father" and "Winterset." Nancy followed Carroll to Ireland to complete his studies in 1951 and they were married the same year in Dublin.
Nancy O'Connor was an imposing woman, standing 6 feet tall. She had a major role in a minor 1976 film "A Whale of Tale."
"Nancy was a very good actress," her brother said. "She got her degree in fine arts and drama at the university, but she didn't get picked for parts because she was so tall. That was always a burden as far as her acting career went."
Her passions were widespread. When the O'Connors moved back to Missoula from Ireland, Carroll earned his master's degree in 1956 while Nancy developed the first comprehensive fine arts curriculum in Missoula's elementary schools.
In California, where they lived in Los Angeles and Malibu for more than 50 years, Nancy helped develop a charitable support group for a melanoma cancer research and treatment center at UCLA.
She was a member of the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which she helped design in 2004.
Nancy spent some 10 years gathering prints and cataloging her grandfather Fred E. Miller's stunning collection of some 600 photographs and 135 glass negatives taken of Montana's Crow Indians from 1895 to 1920. It's been shown at art and historical museums across the U.S. and is currently on load to the Great Plains Museum at the University of Nebraska.
"She was also very concerned and attentive to veterans' rights and programs for veterans," Dennison noted.
The O'Connors adopted a son, Hugh, in 1962 while Carroll was in Rome working on "Cleopatra." He, too, became an actor before committing suicide in 1995.
Funeral arrangements aren't complete but will probably be held Nov. 22 2014 in Malibu.
Tributes can be made to:
Melanoma Research, John Wayne Cancer Institute, St. John's Hospital, 2121 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.
