Memorial Mass for John Wessel
Posted January 18, 2012 at 12:18 pm
La MaMa’s long time Board of Directors member John Wessel passed away on December 9. There will be a Memorial Mass in Celebration of the Life of John.
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 10:30am
Church of St. Francis Xavier
46 West 16th Street, New York City
(Between 5th and 6th Avenues)
From New York Times obituary
WESSEL–John C. John C. Wessel, formerly of NYC, died at home on December 9 in Pennsylvania from ALS. Born in St. Louis in 1941, a Graduate of the Goodman School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he spent five seasons at the St. Louis Municipal Opera and two seasons on Broadway with Phoenix Rep. He served in the Peace Corps in Venezuela 1966-68, worked for the Arts & Education Council of St. Louis, as Director of the Staten Island Council on the Arts, at the New York State Council on the Arts, and as regional representative for the National Endowment for the Arts from 1977-84. In 1979, he met William C. O’Connor, his joy, strength, and love for the next 33 years. They were married in 2008. They moved to Rome, Italy in 1985 and opened the Wessel O’Connor Gallery, then relocated to New York by 1987. In addition to his husband, survived by siblings Ginger (and John) Williams of Chicago, Tom (and Susan) Wessel of Ironton, MO, Jerry (and Joan) Wessel of Poplar Bluff, MO, and Edward Jr. (and Babette) Wessel of St. Louis, by numerous nephews and nieces, and eight O’Connor siblings. Memorial Mass January 21 at St. Francis Xavier Church 46 W. 16 St., NYC at 10:30am. Donations in his honor may be made to La Mama ETC, 74A East 4th St., New York 10003