Erlene Conner

Erlene Croley Conner was born in Albertsville, AL on February 9, 1928. She spend her early life with her mother, her brother, Ken, and her grandparents, Granny and Granddaddy Guest. Later, after Homer Carter joined the family, it expanded to include her sisters, Lynda, Anne, and Stephanie. She always referred to Homer as Daddy.

Last summer, after church, she shared the story of how she and Ken responded in faith to the invitation of Christ at a revival service.

Erlene graduated from Etowah County High School in 1947. Following High School she worked in the family dry cleaner business.

One summer day in 1947, she met Ed Conner at Lake Ray in Atalla, AL. Addie Mae, who worked for the family, provided some feminine wisdom, saying “If you can get that man, you better get him.” Which she did. Ed and Erlene were married at East Gadsden Baptist Church on AUG 29, 1948. Throughout their 66 years of marriage, Ed knew her as his loving wife.

After locating in Dothan and working at Hayes Grocery, she became the mother of two sons, Daniel, born in 1950, and Phillip, born in 1954. They always knew her as their loving mother. Her daughters in law, Dee and Anne, also knew as their loving mother.

Her grandchildren, Sarah, Keren, Daniel, and Diana, and her great grandchildren, Hailey, Emma, and Annabelle, knew her as their loving Nanny.

During these years, she was a member of several Baptist churches, including East Gadsden Baptist Church, Dunklin Memorial Baptist Church, Indiantown, FL, Northwood Baptist Church, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Hobe Sound Baptist Church, and most recently Tropical Farms Baptist Church. She spent 22 years working as a cashier and head cashier for 2 Publix grocery stores, retiring in 1990. Her interests included needlecrafts, being particularly known for her needlepoint Christmas pillows, cooking, we loved her Congo Bars, German Chocolate Cake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Key Lime Pie, and Fried Peach Pies, and playing bridge, enjoying the friendship and cordial competition. Her daily routine included Bible reading, the day’s crossword puzzle, and the Jumble.

She died in her home with her family present on the morning of April 4, 2015.

Our Nanny will be greatly missed and her place will remain empty. We rejoice in her confessed faith in Christ and her confidence in Jesus’ promise of the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life.