Jane Gardner Connor

COLUMBIA - A funeral service for Jane Gardner Connor, 68, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, December 30, 2015, at Shandon Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends immediately following the service at the church. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Mrs. Connor died Friday, December 25, 2015. Born in Philadelphia, Pa., she was a daughter of the late Matthew Gardner and Mae Killough Gardner. After graduating from Dickinson College in 1969, she earned a Masters of Library Science from University of Washington and a Masters of Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina. Mrs. Connor served as a children’s librarian in Yakima, Washington and conducted outreach services to children of the Yakima people. From 1978 to 2008, she was a consultant for children’s library services of South Carolina, but took a break for six years to be at home for her two children. Mrs. Connor served on committees for literacy under Governor Riley, received the Literacy Award for the state of SC in 2008, signed for deaf at First Baptist Church in Columbia and taught Sunday School for the deaf. She met her husband Ken in Singles Ministry, married on April 29, 1984, and returned to Jane’s Presbyterian background by joining Shandon Presbyterian Church. Ken thinks one of her greatest accomplishments was loving and giving the building blocks to their children to become successful adults. Ken and Jane were members of the Harden Sunday School Class at Shandon Presbyterian Church, who are invited to sit with the family at the service. Surviving are her husband, Ken Connor; son, Robert Connor of Charleston; daughter, Gillian Connor of Birmingham, Ala.; brother, Robert Gardner (Millicent) of Corvallis, Oregon, and nieces and nephews. The family wishes to thank Charlie Roberts for his daily wisdom and support. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the SC chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association to find a cure for this devastating disease: Alzheimer’s SC Chapter, 140 Stoneridge Drive, Suite 210, Columbia, SC 29210.