Father D.B. O’Connor, the first diocesan pastor of St. Patrick’s, not only opened St. Patrick’s school for the first time, but was instrumental in educational progress of an even wider scope. Fr. O’Connor served as liaison between the State Department of Education and the parochial schools of Nebraska from 1916-1926, a period during which many new laws concerning schools were enacted. Fr. O’Connor’s efforts made it possible for parochial schools to continue to operate.
His influence was felt by public school students as well. Having been a football player in his younger years, he often helped out at football practice at Havelock High School. He became a popular figure there and in 1928, when it came time for the seniors to choose their baccalaureate speaker, they requested Fr. O’Connor. Because there was considerable anti-Catholic sentiment at the time, both from the Ku Klux Klan and in the general area, the school officials asked the students to reconsider.
The seniors insisted on Fr. O’Connor, the school’s superintendent sent the invitation, hoping that Fr. O’Connor would decline. However, Fr. O’Connor got permission from Bishop Beckman to speak. He used St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, 13:13: “There are three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” One of the first people to compliment Fr. O’Connor after the speech was one of the Klan members who had been opposed to having a Catholic give the address.
St. Patrick parishioner Jackie Hart has a special connection to the story about Fr. O’Connor’s successful speech at Havelock High School. Her mother, Nellie McKinney, did not attend St. Patrick’s school, but was one of four Catholics in a class of 35 seniors at Havelock High School that year. “Vi Donlan and I were two feisty Irish girls,” she recalled, “and we could not see why a Catholic priest had never been asked to speak at a baccalaureate. We were a close, friendly class, and it was agreed to have Father O’Connor give ours. He was the first and only priest to have this honor.”