Edward R Conner

His early education was an adventure. He associated with 2 brothers, Hollis and Wallis who lived down the road, Billy Sanders, whose father ran the mule yard, and Richard Forrester. They were creative and demonstrated a great deal of initiative. However, this was often directed away from the learning activities in the classroom.

He attended Dothan High School. Although he was medically unqualified for military service and went to Mobile, AL, contributing to the War Effort as a welder making Liberty Ships.

When Glenn returned from the War, all of Too Mama’s family moved to Gadsden, AL and the men attended Alabama Technical College. Ed completed a program in drafting.

In the summer of 1947, he met Erlene Croley at Lake Ray in Atalla, AL. They were married in AUG 1947 and began their married life in Dothan, AL. They had 2 children, my older brother, Danny, born in 1950 and me in 1954. They were married for 66 years, until mother’s death on April 4, 2015.

Dad’s jobs included being a waiter, selling insurance, a snack machine route, and he became a machinist at Hedstrom Union. There, he was the co-invented the patented hinge for the butterfly chair,.

A fortunate event occurred in 1957 when he took the family to visit his brother Glenny in Miami. He saw an advertisement for drafting jobs with Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in West Palm Beach. He told me he asked Glenny, “Where is West Palm Beach?” With his drafting training and experience as a machinist, he was accepted into the aeronautical drafting program. At Pratt and Whitney, dad worked in government products. He worked on the Lunar Exploration Module that went to the moon. He was an expediter, determining if a particular part was best built in house or farmed out to another company.

He enjoyed his work at Pratt and made many good and lifelong friends. He was a popular figure known for his quick wit and humorous stories. On one occasion, he his supervisor talked to him about other workers spending too much time at his desk talking. But, during this conversation, his boss’s supervisor interrupted them to have a chat with Dad. As the supervisor left, he pointed to his boss and said to Dad, “Put in a good word for me.” That was the end of that. When Dad retired from Pratt, like all employees, he was escorted from the building. The entire drafting department, without prompting, stood and recognized him as he left the building. His boss said that never happened before.

Dad always loved fishing and boating. He took Danny and me fishing. We were in a 3–way tie for first place at a 4 JUL fishing tournament in Indiantown.

He bought the house on the Earman River in North Palm because it was by the spillway, a perfect location for Snook fishing and had ocean access.

Dad worked his way up buying boats. He would buy them, use them, sell them for a profit, and then buy another one. His Boston Whaler is at the house now.

His engineering skills went to good use. He designed and fabricated a stepped mast on a 25’ sloop so he could get it past the fixed bridges on the Earman River. We often thought about what people thought when they saw the sailboat on the upstream side of the bridge.

He was a loving and caring father to Dan and me and father-in-law to our wives, Anne and Dee.

Dad embraced his role as grandfather when grandchildren came along. He became PopPop and Mom became Nanny to Sarah, Keren, Daniel, and Diana. He was also a wonderful great-grandfather to Hailey, Emma, Annabelle, Peter, and Ben.

He enjoyed the view from his back window over-looking the canal. He kept gourds for the Martins, he and mom would try to count them. I never could. He looked forward to the daily visits with his Cardinals, Mollie and Reginald, and watching the antics of the Earl and Pearl Squirrel and their many off-spring.

They were members of Tropical Farms Baptist Church and enjoyed their Sunday School Class friends and teachers. Last Monday, he told my son, Daniel, that he had made peace with God, asked God to forgive him of his sins, and that he is a Christian.

We are thankful for all those who knew Dad, cared for him, and will miss him.

We loved and will continue to love Dad, PopPop, Ed.

May you know God’s great mercy, love and forgiveness. Thank you for attending this service.