Obituary of Thelma Lee Connally

On December 19, 1939 in Hallsville, Texas, a baby girl was born to Elmor and Rosetta King. They named her Thelmer, which she changed to Thelma once she was of age. On December 22nd Thelma peacefully slipped away from this life just 3 days after her 81st birthday. At an early age, Thelma's family moved from Hallsville to Terrell, Texas. In both junior and senior high school, she was very involved and was often chosen to speak at events and read poetry which she had written. Approaching her third year in college at Prairie View A&M College of Texas, she travelled to Seattle, Washington to visit with relatives for the summer. Little did she know that this trip would change the trajectory of her life. It was here that Thelma first saw this tall, dark, and handsome young man at church and later met at the movies, and the rest is as they say “history”. Along with Tommie Connally came three children (Tommie Jr., Patricia, and Lawrence), all under the age of seven. Thelma and Tommie were married on September 9, 1963, and two additional children were born to their union: Reginald Todd and Karen Linette. In addition to being a new wife and stepmother of three she joined the Boeing Company in Seattle working as a mechanic on 737 and 747 airplanes. In 1971 the Boeing Company had major layoffs and the Connally family moved to Denver, Colorado. In Denver Thelma came across her dream job at Capitol Life where she was a loan processor up until her retirement. In retirement Thelma worked with the election commission engaging the community to access their civic duty of getting registered and to vote. Thelma was a faithful and dependable member of Holy Trinity, Church of God in Christ for 48 years. She served in several positions including church Secretary, Choir Director, Missionary, and much-requested soloist. Her hobbies included shopping, shopping, and did I forget to say shopping? She also enjoyed reading, writing poetry, travel and staying in touch with her friends from back home and was on her high school reunion committee. Thelma is survivored by her husband Tommie L. Connally Sr., 5 loving children, Tommie L. Connally Jr., Patricia A. Connally, Lawrence K. Connally (Sabrina), Reginald T. Connally, and Karen L. Howard, all of Metro Denver. Thelma also loved her host of grandchildren, Anthony Henderson (deceased), Patrick N. Connally (Quinetta) of Michigan; Adrian Sarver of Oklahoma; Darton L. Connally, Crystal N. Slaughter (Kenneth) of Georgia; April C. Hamby (Christopher), Travis C. Connally (Jeni), Samuel L. Connally, Dion G. Hamm, Monticue A. Connally (Aishah), Brittany L. Connally-Thomas, Matthew E. Connally (Kaleema), Summer Narducci (Anthony), Devaughn Hurd, Paul L. Thorne (Phalan); Brieanna J. Howard, Javae B. Howard, all of Metro Denver. Thelma has over 39 great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.