SCRANTON, Pa. — Sadness couldn't help but creep into the lighthearted remembrances of those who counted former Mayor Jimmy Connors as a friend.
That includes Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds Evie Rafalko McNulty.
“He made you feel good,” McNulty said. “He made you feel wanted and he made you feel good. And that's a special person.”
As news of Connors' death rippled through Scranton, stories were swapped highlighting the man he was. In the process, a picture emerged of what Scranton lost.
“Jimmy was just… he was one in a million,” McNulty said.
Those who knew Connors recalled how the late mayor loved people and wasn't the type to hold grudges. It wasn't in his nature.
McNulty got a glimpse of that in the early 1990s when Connors beat her preferred Democratic candidate for mayor, Jerry Notarianni. That night, she found a warm embrace from Connors instead of a cold shoulder.
“He was the kindest, most caring compassionate sincere friend you will ever have,” McNulty said.
McNulty's husband, James Barrett McNulty, was one of Connors' predecessors in City Hall.
When James McNulty passed away in 2016, Connors was there for her. Whenever she was sick, he would call to check in.
But it was in his work for the community that he drew passion. Connors loved being mayor.
“Jimmy never stopped being mayor,” Mayor Paige Cognetti said. “He continued to be a warm, jovial, comforting presence at public events and was a source of wisdom for me personally. He'll live on in Scranton as 'the Mayor' and we will deeply miss him.”
He kept up his work after he left office — whether it was organizing symposiums on the holocaust or campaigning for his preferred candidates.
Attorney Frank Bolock worked with Connors for about a decade as his solicitor.
He said the city lost one of its most stalwart defenders.
“If there was a better champion of Scranton than Jimmy Connors, I don't know him or her,” Bolock said. “Long before he was mayor, he was all about the neighborhoods and stuff for children and he continued that even after he completed his tenure as mayor.”
McNulty had to agree.
“Jimmy Connors, he worked from his heart,” McNulty said. “He was all heart, God bless him.”