By Steve Snyder, Lebanon Bureau

Sunday Patriot-News * Harrisburg, PA

Sunday, September 8, 2002

Lebanon – Although she hasn’t lived here for many years, a large part of Anita Patton O’Connor’s heart is still tied to her hometown.

“It’s always nice to be back in Lebanon,” said O’Connor, a former Miss Pennsylvania, as she opened a concert at Coleman Park in July. “It’s always a little nerve wracking to try to recognize people you haven’t seen for 20 years.”

This week, O’Connor returns home again.

She will join the Lebanon Community Concert Band for a free program Wednesday night at her alma mater, Lebanon High School, to remember the heros and victims of last year’s 9/11 tragedies.

Backed by the band, O’Connor will sing “God Bless America,” “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a medley of songs from “Hello, Dolly” and George Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

“It should be a pretty emotional day,” O’Connor said from her Annapolis, Md., home. “You can’t celebrate, but you have to somehow memorialize it.”

Twenty-two years ago this month, O’Connor was experiencing different emotions as she represented Pennsylvania in the Miss America Pageant.

“It was such a good experience for me,” O’Connor said of her week in Atlantic City, N.J. “It really helped me grow. It gave me confidence to go on in the direction I wanted to go, which was the entertainment field. All my memories of it are good.”

After her year as Miss Pennsylvania, she returned for her senior year at Syracuse University and then spent about a decade on the road performing with a band.

When she ended her touring days 10 years ago, O’Connor decided to join her sister, Kay Snyder, in the Annapolis area. Snyder is married, has two sons and teaches elementary school.

One night, O’Connor was at Broadway Corner, a piano bar, where she met a young man named Maurie.

“We kind of just clicked.” O’Connor said. “We had all the same interests.”

Most of those interests revolve around music. Anita Patton married Maurie O’Connor and the two are raising daughters Sarah, who just turned 5, and Hayley, 2.

Maurie, a fine vocalist in his own right, works in the software computer sales and sometimes shares the stage with Anita, as he did at Coleman Park. That night, Sarah was the O’Connors’ “special guest,” joining her mother, who played the piano while singing a medley of songs from “The Sound of Music.”

“She absolutely loves this,” Maurie said of his older daughter.

“I think I’ve created a diva,” Anita said after Sarah finished an energetic rendition of “Do-Re-Mi.”

Anita O’Connor isn’t lacking energy herself.

Although she still performs regularly at the Radisson’s piano bar in Annapolis, her primary job is musical director for the Chesapeake Music Hall Dinner Theatre. She also teaches a dozen piano and voice students.

Maurie’s parents live on the opposite side of Annapolis and help out often, as do Anita’s parents, George and Lorraine Patton, who make frequent trips from their South 12^th Street home to see their daughters and grandchildren.

“My house is never in better shape than when my mother visits,” Anita O’Connor said.

The Pattons were sitting near the Coleman Park stage, taking care of Sarah and Hayley while Anita and Maurie entertained a crowd of several hundred fans on that warm summer night six weeks ago.

During her two hours on stage, O’Connor sang a wide range of songs, from Broadway numbers, to country hits, to classic rock ‘n’ roll, to patriotic favorites, with a few less familiar pieces tossed in.

“I’m turning into a very big country fan,” O’Connor said. “I never used to like country music.”

Her renditions of Cindy Thompson’s “What I Really Meant to Say,” and Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” proved her point.

Then she launched into a medley of rock, including the Beatles’ “Back in the U.S.S.R.”

She dedicated the song “If You Believe,” from the Broadway musical “The Wiz,” to her younger daughter.

Later in the program, O’Connor sang “Superstar,” and shared this with the audience: “Karen Carpenter was one of my favorite singers when I was young. I begged my mother to play drums. I always wanted to be the next Karen Carpenter, but Mother made me play the piano.”

Probably a wise decision, judging by the success she has enjoyed.

Near the end of the show, O’Connor again thanked her hometown fans.

“It’s always fun for me to come home,” she said. “You’ve always been so supportive of me in all the endeavors I’ve done.”

Used with permission from the Patriot-News

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