Andy Connors: Tribute To A Fallen Warrior

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Photo courtesy of Marcella Jones

Andrew J. Connors

Andrew J. Connors

In Ojibwe Indian traditions, Trickster (Nanabozhoo) is a shapeshifter and cultural hero ruled by human emotions and flaws. Trickster represents the tension between doing good while still making mistakes. But ultimately, he teaches and helps heal the People with his antics.

Andrew J. Connors, of the Bad River Ojibwe Indian Nation, trickster, writer, musician, storyteller, and theater maker has walked on. When a warrior falls, his community remembers. This is a remembering.

“An Iroquois prophecy says, ‘One day our children will speak to the world.’  Today is that day.”

— A.C.

Andy Connors had two kids and a full-time job when he enrolled at UW-Milwaukee, where he quickly became writer, then editor, for its multicultural resource center newsletter. There he was dubbed the Word Warrior. So, of course, he started the Word Warrior Society with friend and faculty member Kimberly Blaeser, creating a place for UWM multicultural writers to share and critique each other’s work.

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Earth Song, Sky Spirit: Short stories of the contemporary Native American experience

Shortly after graduation, Connors had the honor of having his story “Avian Messiah and Mistress Media” included in Earth Song, Sky Spirit: Short Stories of the Contemporary Native American Experience, a book featuring some of the country’s best Native writers.

Written words were now his arrows. Truth became the bow he shot them from, spending his life as a cultural warrior striving to correct misconceptions and misappropriation of Native ways. But he was also a lover of all things Marx Brothers, Star Trek and The Beatles.

Over the years he would write and edit newsletters for numerous Native organizations. He wrote plays and short stories and started Woodland Nations Indian Children’s Theater, often collaborating with non-Native arts organizations, facilitating cultural exchange and awareness.

Arts at the Indian Community School

For decades he worked with Milwaukee’s Indian Community School (ICS) starting as school photographer and newsletter editor, then helping develop their theater and its programming.

In their tribute to Connors at his passing, ICS said in part, “Andy was a sincere and genuine man whose presence at ICS was always felt in meaningful ways. He was well-known for his humor, and as a storyteller, musician and poet, he brought a gentleness to everything he touched. Those who knew him will remember the way he listened, the way he encouraged, and the way he always sought to honor culture and community.”

One of the ICS students he touched was Vanessa OldCoyote (Ojibwe), now a medical social worker.  She shares, “He was one of the most important mentors in my childhood. He helped me stay out of trouble and taught me that confidence, creativity and hard work make all the difference. He will be deeply missed.” 

Milwaukee cultural speaker, dancer and educator Mark Denning (Oneida) talks with great respect for Connors’ influence in our Native and non-Native communities. “One of his greatest legacies is to generations of Native children. He helped them find voice in the arts when they had little or no voice of expression in the larger community. Andy led the way for writing and critical thinking by providing a platform for the voices of Indian people.

“He was a champion for the ideal that Native people deserve a place in the square of public art and expression. It was an honor to know him, and it is his legacy that long after his passing, generations will be touched by him having been the first through artistic doors once closed to us.”

Trickster’s Music

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Photo by Douglas Krimmer

Andy Connors and Ron Jones - Acoustic Warriors

Andy Connors and Ron Jones

In the early 1990s, a mutual passion for making music brought the word warrior together with master luthier Ron Jones (Hochungra). They formed Acoustic Warriors, a folk-rock duo featuring intricate guitar playing and lyrics that proved Native music is not frozen in time. The pair played everywhere from Indian Summer and Bastille Days to Chicago’s World Music Festival and colleges around the Midwest.

In 2002 they released Coup Stick Warrior which won a WAMI for World/Ethnic Group of the Year. Connors’ tongue-in-cheek song “Wannabes” is pure trickster, poking at people who usurp Native ceremonies.

In 2003, Acoustic Warriors were slated to perform on a two-week tour of military bases in Japan and on Diego Garcia, a military installation in the Indian Ocean. But the opportunity for the duo came to a sudden end when two months before the tour Connors had a massive stroke.

For years, he worked diligently at physical and speech therapy. Despite continuing physical weaknesses and ongoing aphasia, he returned to many of the things he did before the debilitating stroke. He had eight incredible years with his last wife, Meg. He was playing guitar again with Jones, as well as with a group from Wilson Park Senior Center. He sat on the board of directors of Indian Council of the Elderly for his last 10 years and was director of the local Ojibwe Choir. He still visited ICS.

On Nov. 26, 2025, at 69 years old, Andy Connors was unexpectedly taken from us by a heart attack. Hundreds attended his memorial at Indian Community School in December to honor and remember this gentle word warrior.

But trickster Andy must have the final word (using his best Groucho Marx voice). “Why? Because I’m Andy Connors!”

This article was written by the author with NO AI assistance. Full disclosure: The author is the wife of Ron Jones.