Frank David Conner

With great sadness, we announce the passing of Frank Conner on February 12th, 2025 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Frank is survived by his wife Rebecca Conner, daughters Cynthia and Catherine Conner, sister Ginny Keller, cousins, nieces and nephews in Kentucky and Indiana, and beloved “granddogs” Ella, Sadie, Grit, and Luce Bella. He is preceded in death by his parents Salome and Frank Conner Sr. and sister Carol Franklin.

Frank was born on July 9th, 1943 in Hamilton, Ohio where he adventured in Winton Woods and went on to attend Western Kentucky University. Frank felt it was his duty to serve his country in the Vietnam War, the difficulty of which greatly impacted his life and perspective. He married his high school sweetheart Rebecca Martin (to whom he wrote a stack of love letters while deployed) on March 1st, 1969 after his service.

Inspired by his spectacular road and fishing trips to the Canadian Rocky Mountains, he and Becky ventured out west, ultimately settling in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1980 where over 55 years of marriage they shared a love of football, competition, humor and inside jokes, matching outfits, Yahtzee & cribbage, and their daughters Catherine and Cynthia.

Frank was tenacious in all his ventures be it a yearslong competition with a neighbor to cultivate the greenest lawn; detailed landscaping with wooden borders for flower beds, intricate piping, and garden irrigation systems; constructing a My Little Ponies stable out of an old stereo box; diagramming and mapping Christmas lights to ensure all surfaces of the home appropriately covered each year; or producing over 300 paintings during the COVID era.

All who knew Frank will remember he loved nature, outdoor camping adventures, fishing, and time with his horses and dogs. One of the highlights of his life was camping under the stars, eating chuckwagon meals, and hearing cowboy poetry while traveling miles on horseback across Wyoming on a group ride. He loved music, grilling a perfect steak, sunsets on the porch with “sweet red” wine and his family, and football games; particularly the Denver Broncos during which he wore Bronco garb, animatedly yelling calls while throwing yellow and red flags as applicable (he thankfully lived to see the Broncos make a playoff game).

Besides a love of travel, including salsa dancing with local Ecuadorians in a mini Peace Corps adventure, Frank imparted to his daughters a deeply ingrained appreciation for nature, adventure, hard work, compassion, humor, strong will, creativity, humility, and love of family. He was a unique and soulful man who will be incredibly missed.

There will be no formal service; however, we deeply appreciate and will cherish any favorite memories or stories you may have to share of Frank on the online forum.

As a veteran, Frank was very concerned about the integrity of our democracy. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to DemocracyForward.org: https://democracyforward.org/action/donate/?source=top-nav