by Scott Wheeler

People have a funny habit of becoming tongue-tied when in the presence of celebrities. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom has its share of people of celebrity status, some of them full-time residents, others seasonal. One of the best-known celebrities was Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died on September 4.

Tony O’Connor of Derby can’t say that he was made speechless when he first met Rehnquist, or during some of his subsequent meetings—because he didn’t realize that the man who simply called himself “Bill” was anything other than a man who loved the Northeast Kingdom.

O’Connor recalled the evening in 1974 that he and the woman who would become his wife, Gigi, met the judge for the first time on the shores of Caspian Lake in Greensboro at a popular lakeside destination where people enjoyed listening to classical music.

“When I met him, he said, ‘Hi, I’m Bill,’” O’Connor said. “I said, ‘Hi, I’m Tony.’ I had no idea who he was.”

It wasn’t until years later when he saw Bill on television that O’Connor said he knew that Bill wasn’t just an ordinary guy, at least outside of the community of Greensboro—he served on the U.S. Supreme Court.

O’Connor, who works for Homeland Security at the border crossing in North Troy, said that over the years he often chatted with “Bill” when he crossed back into the states from Canada. During one of those chats O’Connor asked the judge whether he’d be willing to attend the Civil War Roundtable in Derby, a history group that the Derby man helped found more than a decade ago. The judge agreed to attend the meeting. About 300 people showed up at the meeting that was held at the Border Hotel in Derby.

“What got me was that he arrived in a three- or four-year-old Subaru that was beginning to show rust,” O’Connor said. “He didn’t have security, a secretary, or anybody.” O’Connor said as far as he can tell, during the judge’s time in the Kingdom, he didn’t want to be treated like one of the most powerful men in the country, but like Bill, the ordinary man.

O’Connor still laughs when he thinks about the cast of characters that the judge sat with during the meal. “It was the wackiest dinner I’ve ever seen in all my life.”

One of the judge’s tablemates was a celebrity in his own right—Paul “the Butcher” Vachon. A hulk of a man, the Butcher—who hails from just across the border in Quebec, but now lives in Vermont—traveled the world wrestling some of the toughest men the world had to offer in the 1960s and 1970s, back in the days, the Butcher is fond of saying, “when wrestling was real.”

Also at the table was George Archer, an accomplished writer-artist who has spent a great deal of his spare time traveling the globe aboard cargo ships just for the fun of it. Topping off the list of tablemates was local prominent attorney Tom Donnellan. O’Connor chuckled about the combination of a small town Vermont lawyer sitting with the chief justice of the United States talking law.

“Tom said he had the time of his life,” O’Connor said.

As for Bill’s time at the roundtable, O’Connor said the judge had a great time, and he shared his great sense of humor with the group. The Derby man said at the end of the evening, he led the judge to the door down an aisle of 300 applauding people. But before the two of them reached the door, O’Connor said he stopped dead in his tracks, turned to the judge and wisecracked, “You do know that applause is meant for me, not you, don’t you?”

JbR –

Supreme Court chief justice William Rehnquist (left) was a respected summer resident of Greensboro, Vermont. He died on September 4, at his home in Arlington, Virginia. Tony O’Connor is also in the picture. Photo courtesy of Tony O’Connor