PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Andrea Bruno, tournament director of hospitality, left, and her sister and fellow Salem Country Club member Linda Camuso at the members box during the Senior Open.
By KATIE MORRISON
PEABODY –– As the 2017 U.S. Senior Open drew tens of thousands of fans and volunteers to over the weekend, there was an unforgettable presence missing.
Lynnfield’s Edie O’Connor, a longtime member of the club, was there when Salem CC hosted the 1954 Women’s Open; she was the walking scorer for the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias as she won her 10th and final major title. Thirty years later, O’Connor made a memorable impression on the attendees of the 1984 U.S. Women’s Open when it came to Peabody, dressing up as the club’s signature mascot, a witch, as seen on the logo. In 2001, O’Connor reprised her role as the witch for the 2001 U.S. Senior Open, the last USGA major championship held at Salem Country Club before it returned to Peabody this year.
O’Connor died in October 2014 at the age of 96, but her daughters Andrea Bruno, the head hospitality director for Salem CC at the Senior Open, and Linda Camuso were on hand, keeping her memory alive. As if that takes any work with the members at Salem.
O’Connor was a member of Salem CC for parts of eight decades. She held the record for most club championships with 16 until 2011, when the mark was broken by Maureen Ramini. Though she was an excellent golfer, O’Connor is remembered just as much for her outgoing personality as her playing abilities.
But those playing abilities were impressive. O’Connor was skilled in tennis as well, winning the Swampscott town league when she was young (she graduated from Swampscott High in 1935). Tennis became a lifelong passion for O’Connor.
“She played until she was 86,” said Bruno.
O’Connor met her husband, Leo O’Connor of Lynn, on a double date, though they were on the date with other people. They had four children; Linda, the oldest, Michael, Cheryl and Andrea.
“She was a fabulous mother,” said Camuso.
“Now that my boys are parents, they say nana (O’Connor) set the bar,” Bruno said. “She was a fun parent, and she was always there.”
The family made a home in Lynnfield, where both Camuso and Bruno both lived until recently. The kids grew up at the club, where their parents and grandparents were members. Now that Linda’s daughter Jill and Andrea’s son Alex are full members at the club, the family is one of just three to have four generations at Salem. Camuso and Bruno have taken after their mother on the course; Camuso has won two club championships and Bruno, four.
“When I won my first club championship, instead of ‘congrats,’ mom said ‘nice start,’ Bruno recalled.
But even with all of the club titles under her belt, one of O’Connor’s most memorable roles at the club was born in 1984. O’Connor put together a costume based off the club’s logo: a witch riding a broomstick. She crafted a costume and spent all day and all night at Salem during the Women’s Open, taking photos with fans and serving as an ambassador of the club.
“They asked her to stand by the door and be the hostess,” Camuso said. “With her hair in a beehive style and the hat, it was quite a look.”
The costume drew a lot of attention. Mostly positive attention; O’Connor attracted fans like then-WBZ sports anchor Bob Lobel. She even landed in Sports Illustrated.
But she did draw the ire of one person: Laurie Cabot, who years before was declared the “Official Witch of Salem” by Governor Michael Dukakis. Cabot was not pleased with the attention paid to O’Connor.
“She put a hex on the club,” Bruno said of Cabot. “She sat here every day, on the terrace, in her witch outfit. Mom got a kick out of her.”
But O’Connor’s witch lived on, and made a return appearance in 2001, when she was 83, for photo ops at the Senior Open. The character became so ingrained in the fabric of the country club, when Bruno joined the tournament committee for this year’s Senior Open, the topic was broached.
“They asked me when I first came on the committee, the people from Bruno Event Team, they said ‘so, we heard about your mother’s witch costume. Do you still have that?’” said Bruno. “I said ‘don’t even think about it.’ They were thinking of dressing me up, and I said no, that was my mother’s thing.”
Bruno has enough to do at the Open this year. One of seven members of the championship’s executive committee, she’s in charge of member services, caddie services and corporate hospitality. The former teacher, who spent time at Coolidge Middle School in Reading as well as in Marblehead and Beverly, has been preparing for this weekend for 3 1/2 years.
“It doesn’t seem like that long, but here we are,” Bruno said.
Camuso was at the Open with her grandchildren.
“My grandkids are eight and ten (years old), and they must have gotten 20 autographs,” Camuso said. “They said Tom Lehman was the nicest, they were so excited he stopped and spoke to them.”
And while an important character was absent from the weekend’s events, there’s no doubt O’Connor’s legacy lives on at Salem Country Club.
