NORTHAMPTON — More than three decades after his 1971 return to the United States from serving in the Vietnam War, Lidon Chevannes found himself in a homeless shelter in Connecticut.
Within a year of moving to Northampton with assistance from Soldier On — a program that provides housing to homeless veterans — Chevannes met with Steve Connor, the city’s veterans services officer, and to this day credits Connor’s diligence for landing an apartment.
“In 2006, he helped me get going,” Chevannes said. “I had printed the paperwork and was moving out of the shelter, but nothing was happening, so Steve exerted his force, and that got me the housing in Florence.”
“There was no one better than Steve to do that,” Chevannes said.
Now an Easthampton resident who chairs the Veterans Advisory Board, Chevannes continues to applaud Connor for being a conduit between veterans and the Edward P. Boland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, and for being someone area veterans can trust and put their confidence in.
“I realized this was an important place with incredible staff support,” said Chevannes, speaking at the Central Hampshire Veterans’ Services office on the lower level of Memorial Hall this week.
Connor intends to retire on May 15, from the position he was named to in 2004 by then Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, who wanted him to do something about the burgeoning number of homeless veterans.
At the time he was appointed to succeed Robert Cahillane, Connor wasn’t sure what the job entailed. “You have ceremonies to do and you have flags to get up, that’s what I thought the job was,” Connor said.
But Higgins appreciated his work as an inclusion specialist for disabled students and children with autism, trying to get them into regular school activities, and believed Connor could be supportive of all veterans, including those who were homeless.
“The progress we’ve made over the last 20 years — we’ve cut veteran homelessness in half, and they are getting more money,” said Connor, who has been a member of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness Veterans Steering Committee, and the Western Mass Network to End Homelessness.
Now, with Soldier On providing both housing and shelter, apartments are available to veterans throughout the region, including in Agawam and Chicopee.
Higgins said Connor went above and beyond, transforming the position and setting a high bar for his successor.
“Steve touched the lives of thousands of veterans, opened doors to any veteran who needed help, and worked collaboratively across the region,” Higgins said.
While Connor is most visible to the public at Memorial and Veterans Day events placing flags at cemeteries, it is his behind-the-scenes advocacy that makes the most difference in veterans’ daily lives.
“The biggest thing we do is financial assistance of low-income vets and their families,” Connor said. “A big part of our jobs is to do the paperwork to get them into VA health care.”
When he first started, Connor assisted 12 people in accessing benefits, recalling each of them as senior citizens on fixed incomes: one a veteran looking for a job, two World War II veterans, and nine surviving spouses. Within five years, the number of those assisted grew to 168.
This was illustrated in the $34,000 in benefits paid out in February 2004 compared to his fifth year on the job when $634,000 in benefits was paid out, mostly to World War II and Korean War veterans who didn’t have a lot of resources. Connor also pushed for better state Chapter 115 benefits for low-income veterans and their dependents, covering everything from housing, employment, health and educational assistance to real estate, auto excise and sales tax abatements.
Under Connor, the office has become the Central Hampshire Veterans’ Services, first by adding Amherst, Pelham, Williamsburg, Chesterfield and Cummington to the district, later expanding to Hadley, Middlefield, Goshen, Huntington, Chester and Worthington, and most recently taking on Hatfield and Granby.
Connor also built up relationships at the VA Medical Center, as well as making connections to those scattered around the city, like in McDonald House and Salvo House and in the shelter system. He would offer to go to wakes for veterans and provide information to families about headstones and possible money available to them.
The rules have been changing all the time, sometimes for the better, such as under President Barack Obama; more people were eligible for health care, with those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan not facing the same financial challenges as earlier generations. But Connor said he worries that the current administration is retreating from the many gains for veterans.
“It’s all been great, but they’re trying to do away with everything we’ve done,” Connor said.
While his status as a veteran makes him eligible for the role, Connor has never sought personal recognition for his service. He doesn’t “look the part” of a stereotypical officer, often growing out his white hair and a tattoo-free aesthetic over a military trim.
After graduating from Northampton High School in 1977, though, he served in the U.S. Navy, becoming a mess management specialist on the Yokosuka, Japan-based USS Midway, which also brought him to the Philippines and Thailand. But he eventually went AWOL, being flown off the ship, returning to the city to live with his dying grandfather and never returned to military service.
Connor has been open about the military sexual trauma, or MST, which he suffered, causing him to drink too much and use drugs before going to college. At the University of Massachusetts, he graduated cum laude in theater with special populations.
Overseeing a team of four full-time staff, Connor is also present at Housing Court each Monday, finding those who are at risk of eviction, and is trying to get the Statewide Advocacy for Veterans Empowerment team to take on this task.
When Connor reached with 20th anniversary in the position two years ago, the city of Northampton paid tribute to him by citing his lasting impact in ensuring veterans receive the support and recognition they deserve.
“From his early days as a champion for veterans’ benefits to his role as the director of Central Hampshire Veterans’ Services, Steve has been a tireless advocate for those who served our country,” the city wrote. “Steve’s journey reflects a deep commitment to public service, empathy and advocacy, always putting veterans first.”
Connor will be leaving the position a few months before the new Veterans Home in Holyoke opens. Following the extensive loss of life there during the COVID-19 pandemic, Connor offered input on the design of the new building, with most veterans getting their own room, and smaller wings. Most importantly, Connor said he was also a champion for adequate staffing at the facility.
Over the years he has also worked at nonprofits including Amherst Community Childcare and The United Arc of Franklin and Hampshire counties.
Connor was part of a committee that helped to bring the traveling Vietnam Memorial wall to the region, recalling some veterans having tears in their eyes when viewing it.
Even in retirement, Connor said he will work over the summer with the Building Bridges Veterans Initiative, a program that aims to address veteran social isolation, depression, post-traumatic stress and suicide risk by bringing meals to veterans in 18 different locations
With all the work that mostly goes on behind the scenes, Connor said he and his staff have always made sure veterans graves had the proper flags and markers and the ceremonies in each community went off without a hitch. He also worked on other projects, like finding money to order signs as Purple Heart communities are designated.
“I always found it rewarding, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it,” Connor said.
Connor said there is some irony in being a veterans services officer for more than 20 years despite his own military experience.
“I didn’t think I’d do it this long, for someone who never wanted to be known as a veteran.”
