Lucy Nguyen O’Connor

May 4, 1958 - November 2, 2022

Lucy Nguyen O’Connor passed away in her home with her husband Rod by her side on November 2, 2022. She was 64.

Lucy was born in San Francisco on May 4, 1958. She was raised in a loving, ethnically diverse foster family on Chenery Street headed by Allan & Claire Winans. Her siblings recall her as a “love child” who wanted to show her love for everyone, as well as the menagerie of animals the household collected which included a dog, cats, parakeets, rabbits, hamsters, turtles, geese in the backyard and a “feral” frog or two. She was also very inquisitive and wanted to learn about everything, and played musical instruments such as the flute, the clarinet & the violin.

Lucy attended Horace Mann Elementary School & James Lick Jr. High School, where in her last year she received the Lantern of Learning, awarded to the highest achieving student of the term. She went on to attend Lowell High School, graduating in 1976 and from there attended U.C. Berkeley, graduating in 1979. That year she was accepted into the prestigious University of California, San Francisco Baccalaureate Nursing program. She graduated in 1981 with a B.S in nursing. Lucy then began a nursing career at U.C.S.F. that spanned 34 years, the majority of which was in the O.B./ labor & delivery unit, until she retired in 2015. Lucy’s colleagues remember her as one of the smartest, kindest, & most dedicated nurses they ever worked with, with one simply saying “she was the best nurse I ever knew.”

In 1991 while on an evening out at Fisherman’s Wharf with some colleagues, Lucy met Roderick O’Connor, who was tending bar at the establishment they ended up at. He was instantly smitten, but she was initially reluctant to go on a date, finally agreeing only to take his phone number. When she called him a week later to tell him she really wasn’t interested, he got her to change her mind, and they were together ever since. With her support & encouragement, he went back to school, earning bachelor’s and law degrees from U.C. Berkeley, and embarking on his own career with the Public Defender’s Office of Santa Clara County. They were married in 2000, and he was by her side until her final moments in the home they made together.

Lucy enjoyed cooking, learned to bake as a child & mastered culinary skills not long afterwards. She also loved to travel and experience different cultures, and really appreciated the music of the 1970’s particularly Chicago.

Lucy is survived by her husband Rod and her siblings Allan, Barbara, Patric, Loretta, and Gordon Winans, Linda and Robert Phon and Tommy and Howard Lim. A Celebration of Life will be held on January 14, 2023 at a location to be determined. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations in her name be made to the Peninsula Humane Society of San Mateo.