Gloria Anna Connor was born in Astoria, Long Island, New York, to Richard Patrick Connor and Anny (Smithline) Connor. In 1941, when my mother was thirteen years old, her father passed away from tuburculosis. That same year, just eight short months later and three months after her fourteenth birthday, her mother succumbed to the same disease, leaving my mother and her siblings, June Marie and Richard Patrick Connor, Jr., orphans.
My mother and her siblings were placed in the home of an uncle and aunt, (brother of her mother). My mother never felt like she belonged, and so, ran away at the tender age of 16. My mother had heard conversations through her mother and father, that her father's brother owned a candy store somewhere in Connecticut, so that was my mother's destination. With little information to go on, she never found that uncle. Instead, with basic needs to be met, my mother found a job in a coffee shop. My mother lived above the coffee shop in an apartment, and her salary went completely on rent, leaving her little to eat. While working as a waitress, one of her regular customers was a man in the Navy, Herbert Johnson. They dated a very short time and married in Newport, RI on November 25, 1944. Herb had family members living in Bowling Green, Ohio and he took my mother there to reside with them until he finished his term in the Navy. That is how my mother wound up in Ohio.
My mother had four children with her first husband: Herbert S. Johnson Jr., Patricia A. Johnson, John E. Johnson, and Becky S. Johnson. Patricia was born October 19, 1947 and died 11 and 1/2 hours later on the same day.
After an eleven year marriage to Herbert Johnson, they divorced. My mother then went on to marry Estil E. Kirby, on September 3, 1955, at A Chapel In The Garden, in Angola, Indiana. With this union, they had two more children, my brother Robert P. Kirby and myself, Anne Marie.
My mother was the most loving and devoted mother a child could ever have. She had a quick New York wit and a never ending smile that was warm and inviting to everyone that knew her. My mother was also an excellent cook, with her spaghetti and homemade meatballs being one of my personal favorites. One of the other things I admired about my mother, was her brilliant mind and her amazing ability to answer almost every single question quickly and correctly, while watching the show Jeopardy.
On January 15,1987, my brother John Edwin Johnson died at the young age of 36. John's death completely devastated my mother and she was never ever the same.
Through all of the tragedy and heartache in her life, her faith in God was tested, but never lost. Her faith, she once said, "Comes directly from God Almighty, who comforts me and gives me strength and helps me to endure all things!"
I feel extremely blessed to have had my mother, who taught me so many things! The example she set, and the values she instilled within me, help me each and every day of my life.
God Bless You in Heaven mama! Your work on Earth was well done!
I LOVE YOU SO!
My mother and her siblings were placed in the home of an uncle and aunt, (brother of her mother). My mother never felt like she belonged, and so, ran away at the tender age of 16. My mother had heard conversations through her mother and father, that her father's brother owned a candy store somewhere in Connecticut, so that was my mother's destination. With little information to go on, she never found that uncle. Instead, with basic needs to be met, my mother found a job in a coffee shop. My mother lived above the coffee shop in an apartment, and her salary went completely on rent, leaving her little to eat. While working as a waitress, one of her regular customers was a man in the Navy, Herbert Johnson. They dated a very short time and married in Newport, RI on November 25, 1944. Herb had family members living in Bowling Green, Ohio and he took my mother there to reside with them until he finished his term in the Navy. That is how my mother wound up in Ohio.
My mother had four children with her first husband: Herbert S. Johnson Jr., Patricia A. Johnson, John E. Johnson, and Becky S. Johnson. Patricia was born October 19, 1947 and died 11 and 1/2 hours later on the same day.
After an eleven year marriage to Herbert Johnson, they divorced. My mother then went on to marry Estil E. Kirby, on September 3, 1955, at A Chapel In The Garden, in Angola, Indiana. With this union, they had two more children, my brother Robert P. Kirby and myself, Anne Marie.
My mother was the most loving and devoted mother a child could ever have. She had a quick New York wit and a never ending smile that was warm and inviting to everyone that knew her. My mother was also an excellent cook, with her spaghetti and homemade meatballs being one of my personal favorites. One of the other things I admired about my mother, was her brilliant mind and her amazing ability to answer almost every single question quickly and correctly, while watching the show Jeopardy.
On January 15,1987, my brother John Edwin Johnson died at the young age of 36. John's death completely devastated my mother and she was never ever the same.
Through all of the tragedy and heartache in her life, her faith in God was tested, but never lost. Her faith, she once said, "Comes directly from God Almighty, who comforts me and gives me strength and helps me to endure all things!"
I feel extremely blessed to have had my mother, who taught me so many things! The example she set, and the values she instilled within me, help me each and every day of my life.
God Bless You in Heaven mama! Your work on Earth was well done!
I LOVE YOU SO!
Gloria Anna Connor was born in Astoria, Long Island, New York, to Richard Patrick Connor and Anny (Smithline) Connor. In 1941, when my mother was thirteen years old, her father passed away from tuburculosis. That same year, just eight short months later and three months after her fourteenth birthday, her mother succumbed to the same disease, leaving my mother and her siblings, June Marie and Richard Patrick Connor, Jr., orphans.
My mother and her siblings were placed in the home of an uncle and aunt, (brother of her mother). My mother never felt like she belonged, and so, ran away at the tender age of 16. My mother had heard conversations through her mother and father, that her father's brother owned a candy store somewhere in Connecticut, so that was my mother's destination. With little information to go on, she never found that uncle. Instead, with basic needs to be met, my mother found a job in a coffee shop. My mother lived above the coffee shop in an apartment, and her salary went completely on rent, leaving her little to eat. While working as a waitress, one of her regular customers was a man in the Navy, Herbert Johnson. They dated a very short time and married in Newport, RI on November 25, 1944. Herb had family members living in Bowling Green, Ohio and he took my mother there to reside with them until he finished his term in the Navy. That is how my mother wound up in Ohio.
My mother had four children with her first husband: Herbert S. Johnson Jr., Patricia A. Johnson, John E. Johnson, and Becky S. Johnson. Patricia was born October 19, 1947 and died 11 and 1/2 hours later on the same day.
After an eleven year marriage to Herbert Johnson, they divorced. My mother then went on to marry Estil E. Kirby, on September 3, 1955, at A Chapel In The Garden, in Angola, Indiana. With this union, they had two more children, my brother Robert P. Kirby and myself, Anne Marie.
My mother was the most loving and devoted mother a child could ever have. She had a quick New York wit and a never ending smile that was warm and inviting to everyone that knew her. My mother was also an excellent cook, with her spaghetti and homemade meatballs being one of my personal favorites. One of the other things I admired about my mother, was her brilliant mind and her amazing ability to answer almost every single question quickly and correctly, while watching the show Jeopardy.
On January 15,1987, my brother John Edwin Johnson died at the young age of 36. John's death completely devastated my mother and she was never ever the same.
Through all of the tragedy and heartache in her life, her faith in God was tested, but never lost. Her faith, she once said, "Comes directly from God Almighty, who comforts me and gives me strength and helps me to endure all things!"
I feel extremely blessed to have had my mother, who taught me so many things! The example she set, and the values she instilled within me, help me each and every day of my life.
God Bless You in Heaven mama! Your work on Earth was well done!
I LOVE YOU SO!
My mother and her siblings were placed in the home of an uncle and aunt, (brother of her mother). My mother never felt like she belonged, and so, ran away at the tender age of 16. My mother had heard conversations through her mother and father, that her father's brother owned a candy store somewhere in Connecticut, so that was my mother's destination. With little information to go on, she never found that uncle. Instead, with basic needs to be met, my mother found a job in a coffee shop. My mother lived above the coffee shop in an apartment, and her salary went completely on rent, leaving her little to eat. While working as a waitress, one of her regular customers was a man in the Navy, Herbert Johnson. They dated a very short time and married in Newport, RI on November 25, 1944. Herb had family members living in Bowling Green, Ohio and he took my mother there to reside with them until he finished his term in the Navy. That is how my mother wound up in Ohio.
My mother had four children with her first husband: Herbert S. Johnson Jr., Patricia A. Johnson, John E. Johnson, and Becky S. Johnson. Patricia was born October 19, 1947 and died 11 and 1/2 hours later on the same day.
After an eleven year marriage to Herbert Johnson, they divorced. My mother then went on to marry Estil E. Kirby, on September 3, 1955, at A Chapel In The Garden, in Angola, Indiana. With this union, they had two more children, my brother Robert P. Kirby and myself, Anne Marie.
My mother was the most loving and devoted mother a child could ever have. She had a quick New York wit and a never ending smile that was warm and inviting to everyone that knew her. My mother was also an excellent cook, with her spaghetti and homemade meatballs being one of my personal favorites. One of the other things I admired about my mother, was her brilliant mind and her amazing ability to answer almost every single question quickly and correctly, while watching the show Jeopardy.
On January 15,1987, my brother John Edwin Johnson died at the young age of 36. John's death completely devastated my mother and she was never ever the same.
Through all of the tragedy and heartache in her life, her faith in God was tested, but never lost. Her faith, she once said, "Comes directly from God Almighty, who comforts me and gives me strength and helps me to endure all things!"
I feel extremely blessed to have had my mother, who taught me so many things! The example she set, and the values she instilled within me, help me each and every day of my life.
God Bless You in Heaven mama! Your work on Earth was well done!
I LOVE YOU SO!
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"I TOAD YOU I WAS SICK'"
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AN EGRAVED FROG/TOAD BESIDE INSCRIPTION.
