Connie Crumley Parker

Connie was born to James and Alice Crumley and raised in Gainesville, GA to a loving and extended family that still share stories of their closeness as sisters and cousins. Her first job in high school was a paper route for the Gainesville Times while she also worked at McLellan’s Five and Dime in downtown Gainesville. After graduating high school, Connie worked at the Gainesville Times as a proofreader and then a writer. She then made a home in Attapulgus, GA married to William Thomas Parker for 43 years. Connie was very active with the United Methodist Church in Attapulgus, GA and always willing to offer loving help to anyone that needed it. She enjoyed singing in the church choir, songs like “I’ll fly away” and “In the Garden” were among her favorite hymns. She loved to cook with a passion and her coconut cake, cornbread dressing and fudge were well-known through the years. One of her favorite sayings was, “don’t talk to strangers” but she ironically did not take her own advice since she touched and enhanced the lives of so many that were once, strangers to her.

Connie loved her three sons, all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren and to be closer, relocated to Woodstock, GA in 2011. Connie was a two-time cancer survivor, once in 1998 and again in 2008. Both times, she never accepted the negative outlook and fought back despite the hard struggle, never giving up. Connie’s dedicated commitment to fight cancer continues as her body will be donated to the Emory School of Medicine for cancer research. Connie is survived by her husband Thomas Parker, sister and husband Val and Bill Garrett, sons Mike Hollis, David Hollis and Thomas Parker Jr., many cousins, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held separately in Attapulgus, GA and Gainesville, GA at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations for pediatric cancer research can be made to St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital at https://www.stjude.org/ which was Connie’s favorite charity.