Maria Cox Connor

Maria Cox Connor, 79, of Kansas City, Mo., passed away on August 27, 2015. Visitation will be 10 am to 11:30 am, when the rosary will be prayed on Monday, August 31st at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church with the Mass of Christian Burial following at 12 noon. Burial will be at Forest Hill/Calvary Cemetery after the Mass. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Kansas City Hospice Foundation, c/o KCHPC, 1500 Meadow Lake Parkway, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64114.

Maria was born the daughter of Maria Lane Cox and Francis M. Cox, Jr. She was educated by the Convent of the Sacred Heart nuns at Maplehurst, 91st Street, and graduated from the Sacred Heart High School on King Street in Greenwich, CT. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Maryville College of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, Missouri, having spent her junior year at the University of Madrid in Spain. After graduating from Maryville she returned to Pelham, New York where she met and married the love of her life, B.J. (Bunky) Connor, Jr. Maria and Bunky married in New York and eventually moved to Cleveland, Ohio and raised (what she called) four wonderful children. They eventually moved to Bunky’s hometown of Kansas City, Missouri where Maria returned to work, tailoring a life time passion and hobby into a profession. She became the manager of Au Marche Antiques and Gifts and eventually retired from Halls on the Plaza where she worked with fine china and antiques.

Maria was preceded in death by her husband Bernard J. (Bunky) Connor and son, Christopher and her parents, Maria Lane Cox and Francis M. Cox, Jr. Maria is survived by her three children, David Connor (Marsha Phipps), Maria Cooper (Patrick), and Erin Sullivan (Kevin). Maria enjoyed her nine grandchildren and leaves behind five favored siblings who were life-long friends, F.M. Cox, III (Mary), Dolores Agnew (Rick, RIP 2013), Lewis Cox, Ella Bracy (Michael), John Cox (Rita). She loved and enjoyed her Kansas City family and Connor in-laws plus numerous nieces, nephews, godchildren, and family friends, especially her lifetime surrogates, the Duffys.