Faces in the Crowd – All in the Family

Lidet, Grace, Maeve, Abaynesh, Jeff, Mohammed, Meg

“I would like to say that we met in a church but I really met my future husband in a seedy bar.”

Meet The O’Connors.

Meg McQuade was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, one of eight children. Jeff O`Connor was raised in Billerica, just a short jaunt down the highway from Meg’s home. He has four other siblings. Meg`s house was a busy spot. Like many large families, their adage was “The more the merrier.” And they were a verbose lot. Talking louder and faster than a sibling was the norm in order to be heard.

Meg’s grandfather had relatives in Caledonia Mills, Nova Scotia, so when a friend from her school mentioned St. F. X as a possible place attend university, the family decided to make a road trip to check it out. The intimacy of the small campus in Antigonish got Meg’s attention and she graduated from X in 1993. Asked what she remembers most about her university days, she says, “Travelling to Cape Breton, friendships that endure to this day and of course, Wheel pizza.”

One evening, back in Massachusetts, she ended up at a bar with some friends. It wasn’t the classiest joint by all indications. She was sipping on water when a fight broke out. There was another guy at the bar and he too was drinking water. After chatting awhile, Meg went home and announced to her mother that she had just met the man she was going to marry.

They dated for a few years and got married in 1996. She completed a law degree and they bought a house – a “fixer upper”. Jeff was just the guy to turn their garage into an office for Meg, as he was an accomplished carpenter.

As a court appointed special advocate, Meg came in contact with many foster families. When she and Jeff talked about starting a family, the notion of adoption was not ruled out. They attended an information session on International adoption the week before Maeve was born. Her older sister, Grace had arrived two years earlier.

Before Maeve turned one, the family doubled in size with the arrival of sisters Lidet and Abaynesh from Ethiopia. Next came Fekadu, Eyob and finally, Mohammed. In the blink of an eye, the O’Connors were a family of nine.

There were a myriad of challenges besides the realities of having a big household, including health issues and being a multi-racial family. Meg decided that the clan needed a full time mother, so she put her legal career on hold. This, of course, resulted in financial pressures but they quickly found out what things were absolutely necessary and what things were frivolous. Needs and wants were quickly compartmentalized.

Meg and Jeff have no illusions that the road ahead will be easy. But having two people with inordinate amounts of compassion gives them a strong foundation. By her own admission, Meg is the “ideas person”.  But she is quick to point out the importance of team work. “We could never have done this without Jeff. He is a quiet guy but works like a dog. He is totally dedicated to his family. He’s the real deal.”

And what does this couple do in their spare time (!)? They are quite involved in a non-profit group whose mission is to support Ethiopian grassroots organizations as they build their own strong communities. They have linked with the Coady International Institute in Antigonish, who have provided them with a network of people who run organizations in Ethiopia. When they put on a fundraiser, it is not uncommon to see the entire O’Connor family with their sleeves rolled up.

 For the O’Connors, life is a family affair.

Eyob and Fekadu