Perhaps it is the rigor of farm life or their strong Catholic faith, but the O\u2019Rourke family has never shied away from a challenge or a chance to help others. Leo J. and Theresa C. O’Rourke raised six boys \u2014 John, Joe, Jerry, Jeff, Jay, and James (aka Jim) on their Iowa family farm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The late James O’Rourke was the oldest of the six boys. At age 22, a tragic work accident left him a quadriplegic. Leo, the family’s patriarch who passed away in 1972, was known as the driving force behind their close-knit ties, hard work ethic, and devout practice of religion. Theresa, also fondly referred to as Mother Theresa, was left to ensure their son lived as fully and independently as possible after his accident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But just like farm life, the family rolled up their sleeves and rallied together to help Jim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We ranged in age from 6 to 18, but we all took part in caring for Jim,” said Joe O’Rourke, \u201872. “We knew what was right, and we all knew what work was\u2014you do what you have to do. Jim brought us closer together as a family.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe O\u2019Rourke joined the SAU Board of Trustees in 2011, about the same time that the OT program began researching assistive technology (AT) applications. As the concept of the AT House developed, the O\u2019Rourke family saw the benefit of helping others that have walked in their shoes. It was the ideal tribute to Jim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jim\u2019s legacy lives on through Jim’s Place, created in 2011 through generous gifts from Joe Sr. ’72 and Joyce O’Rourke, Jeff ’77 and Cindy O’Rourke, Joe Jr. and Ashley O’Rourke and Julie (O’Rourke) ’96 and Alex Zaveral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The O\u2019Rourke\u2019s are not only generous in spirit with regard to Jim\u2019s Place. Joe and his wife Joyce have supported his alma mater in various ways over the past several decades, most notably their gift to the Building Our Future campaign. The O\u2019Rourke Fieldhouse, a 56,000 square foot indoor facility featuring a 200-meter track and four basketball\/volleyball courts is named in their honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our support for the Building Our Future campaign and our family’s ongoing support of St. Ambrose University grows from an understanding of the value of a St. Ambrose education, as evidenced by its impact on my life,” Joe O’Rourke said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps it is the rigor of farm life or their strong Catholic faith, but the O\u2019Rourke family has never shied away from a challenge or a chance to help others. Leo J. and Theresa C. O’Rourke raised six boys \u2014 John, Joe, Jerry, Jeff, Jay, and James (aka Jim) on their Iowa family farm. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2488,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2485\/revisions\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/info.sau.edu\/jimsplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}