Earl Eugene, or E.E., O’Connor was born in Paola, Miami County, Kansas on October 6, 1922 to Nelson and Mayme Scheetz O’Connor. He attended Paola High School, graduating in 1940, before attending the University of Kansas (KU) to study business. He enrolled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in 1942 and was called to active military duty in March of 1943.

O’Connor completed basic training in the summer of 1943 before being assigned to the Operations Division at Camp Stoneman in San Franscico, California. O’Connor would be discharged as a first lieutenant in August of 1946, though he served in the Judge Advocate Generals’ (JAG) Corps after his graduation from law school. O’Connor retired from the Army Reserve as a full colonel in 1974.

O’Connor graduated from KU’s law school in 1950 and started working in the Johnson County, Kansas attorney’s office in 1951. In 1954, O’Connor was approached by Johnson County Republicans to run for the state district court, winning that election. Later, O’Connor would be appointed by Governor Bill Avery to serve on the Kansas Supreme Court on October 1, 1965.

O’Connor served on the Kansas Supreme Court for six years before being appointed to serve as a United States Tenth Circuit District Judge on November 1, 1971. O’Connor served in this capacity until he was appointed the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in 1981. In 1992, O’Connor assumed senior status.

O’Connor married Florence Mae Landis Leffel in November of 1951, with whom he had two sons, Nelson and Clayton. After Florence’s death in 1962, O’Connor married Jean Ann Timmons in May of 1963. O’Connor died on November 29, 1998.

[Information taken from: Richmond, Robert W. Earl E. Connor, Senior United States District Judge: A Biography. Kansas: The United States District Court, 1997.]