Obituary of Thomas F. Connery

It is possible to be an experienced attorney, a politician, a navy skipper and an Irishman. That is Tom Connery. Tom?s maternal side of the family was Welsh, having settled in southwest Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. His great-great grandfather was related to General ?Mad Anthony? Wayne and was paid for his services in the Revolutionary War by a grant of land. Tom?s father was born in Ireland, but his grandparents having died at an early age, his father was raised in the US by relatives. Tom?s father was a boiler inspector for the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company and his father?s brother was a court reporter in Rhode Island. Tom was born in Tyrone, PA on January 27, 1915 near Fred and Tom Waring, ?Waring?s Pennsylvanians? but Tom is not musically inclined. Tom grew up in Audubon and graduated from St. Rose Elementary School in 1928; Camden Catholic High School in 1932, where he played varsity basketball; College of South Jersey in 1935 and from South Jersey Law School in 1939. During college and law school, he worked as a delivery boy and ?soda jerk? at Leopold?s Pharmacy in Haddon Heights. In 1937, Horace Brown employed him as a clerk in his office at the recommendation of his employer, Dr. Leopold and Dean Platt of South Jersey Law School, working 9 to 5 by day and attending law school by night. Tom was admitted to the Bar in 1940. At the time, Alex Schuenemann and Ed Eichmann had been associated with Horace. After Tom came back from the War, Horace, who had started his practice in 1928, formed a partnership in 1946, which was situated in the Walt Whitman Hotel Annex. Later, Howard Kulp and Henry Wille joined the firm and now there are over 20 attorneys in the firm. The firm ? Brown and Connery ? was located in the Parkade Building after the Walt Whitman disappeared and now has its own buildings in Westmont and Woodbury. Before World War II started, in 1941, Tom became a civilian agent, and later an officer, in the U.S. Naval Intelligence Service and in 1943, after training for sea duty, became a deck and commanding officer on amphibious ships. Tom was an officer on the first LST Landing Ship Transport on the ?Bloody Red? Omaha Beach, in the Normandy Invasion. On their third trip across the Channel, his ship hit a mine and there was a great loss of life. It took a month, with skeleton crew on board, to tow the ship to the US for repairs. Tom has a picture of the damaged LST in his office. Tom was then sent to the Pacific Theatre as the commanding officer of the LSM 475 Landing Ship medium, where he participated in the occupation of Okinawa and spent the rest of the War preparing for the invasion of Japan. Tom is proud of his ships, not only because he survived, but also because the LST 133 received the Navy Unit Commendation Award for heroic service in the Normandy Invasion Tom married Elsa Benestad in November of 1943. Elsa?s parents had settled in Barnegat Light after emigrating here from Norway. She attended Camden Commercial College and was working for the I.R.S. when they were married. In January, 1946, after their marriage, they resided in Merchantville near Dean Platt, with whom Tom was friendly and Joe DeLuca, who later became our Surrogate. About 1949, Tom moved to Woodbury, where they raised their children: Nancy, Thomas, Anthony, Lynn, Clare and Charles. Tom?s political career was unique in that he was the first Democrat to be elected to both the Senate and the Assembly from Gloucester County which, at that time, was solid Republican. After serving in the Legislature from 1958-1964, he served on numerous State Commissions, including the Chairmanship of the New Jersey Racing Commission and special counsel for litigation to the Delaware River Port Authority. He was an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1960 when JFK was nominated, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated. By Albert G. Driver Reprinted from The Barrister September 1990 Tom will always be remembered for his love of family; devotion to the law and his uncommon grace and civility.