BUILDING FASCINATION FUELED CAREER.

Byline: Jean Russell Vogel / Community Columnist

From her first job as a 17-year-old reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal of Commerce, Dorothy O'Connor was intrigued by her assignment - gathering data from official sources on building permits and starts.

Now 89, and a Thousand Oaks resident, the twice-retired veteran construction industry journalist said the processes of building still fascinated her 48 years later when she was editor of McGraw Hill's Daily Construction Report.

However, the company's mandatory retirement policy forced the then-65-year-old O'Connor to retire. She returned to a former employer to continue working at her specialty until finally retiring nine years ago.

An early member of the National Association of Women in Construction, O'Connor is a charter member of the organization's Los Angeles Chapter, formed in 1961.

During 1966-67 she served as president of the national association, which originated in 1955. O'Connor is one of the few members wearing the organization's 35-year pin, presented to her at the 1966 national convention. At the 1997 convention last month in New Orleans, O'Connor was cited as mentor for one of the members honored there.

Since moving to Ventura County two years ago, she keeps in touch with the Simi-Conejo and Ventura chapters, the San Fernando Valley chapter and ``my own'' Los Angeles chapter.

She got her first job when her high school journalism instructor referred the college-bound student to the Journal of Commerce full-time summer job. That opportunity gave O'Connor a career focus as well as needed income for the ``very high tuition of $200 a semester'' at the University of Southern California.

Following graduation, she worked from 1931-33 for the Daily Pacific Builder in San Francisco, organizing material from outside reporters. For the following two years, O'Connor reported construction news from government and other sources for Withers Publishing in Los Angeles.

From 1935 until soon after World War II began, she continued this type of reporting for Iles-Ayars' Southwest Builder and Contractor. A wartime Civil Defense volunteer, O'Connor's teletyping skill drew the attention of a military inspector, and she was recruited for Civil Aeronautics Administration employment for the duration of the war.

During that time, she met her late husband, Maurice O'Connor. By war's end, they had two sons. An Iowan, the boys' father pronounced Los Angeles ``no fit place to raise a family,'' and the four relocated near Des Moines.

By 1952 the family was back in Los Angeles with the boys well-launched in school. Maurice's mother had joined the westward move out of interest in expanding her horizons, said Dorothy.

With her mother-in-law's agreeable assistance with after-school child care, the former reporter resumed her role with Iles-Ayars, becoming editor of the firm's Daily Construction Report.

Her career was a continuing learning experience, O'Connor said, citing reading of blueprints and understanding contracts as examples. In 1965, when McGraw-Hill Publishing purchased Iles-Ayars, her new bosses told her they knew nothing about the construction industry and she would have to teach them.

This she proceeded to do until 1973 brought her unwilling retirement. However, O'Connor worked an additional 15 years for her previous employer, Withers Publishing.

A widow since 1974, she decided in 1995 to move to an apartment in a retirement center. Her choice was determined by her longtime feline companion, Happy, who was not welcome at most centers.