The passing of Charles W Conn

On Tuesday evening, March 18 2008, my father-in-law passed from this life into the next. A life that will reunite him with his beloved Edna. I had the honor of being with him when he passed. I had never seen a man pass away before. There was no struggle, just a very peaceful event. He simply stopped breathing and slipped away to the next life. I am reminded of the old Redback song "I Will Slip Away Home." Praise the Lord that Alzheimer's no longer controls his body. While sad, I am very happy for him. He has finished the race with dignity.

What a GREAT father-in-law he was. I have heard so many stories of how people have problems with in-laws. I can truthfully say that Charles and Edna Conn were the perfect in-laws. They ALWAYS considered me as "their son" as he did all the other "non-Conn's" as the brothers and sisters called us. There are so many stories in my head right now, I can't write them in this blog.

Charles Conn told me that he didn't want to be considered "a good church man," but rather "a good man." He very much wanted people to know that he was MUCH more than a church official. And he was. He was a lover of classical music. He especially loved Irish music. He was a great poet. A romantic. Obviously, he was a historian and loved everything about history and had a passion for making sure that recorded history was accurate. He was also a GREAT writer. If we had a question about most anything, we would call him and he knew the answer. He loved crossword puzzles and Scrabble. I made the mistake of playing him in Scrabble. He made up his own rules and would place words that you dare not challenge him on. He was a tremendous photographer. He has pictures from all over the world. He loved to travel. Most of all, he loved his family. He was proud of his family. He had a special, personal relationship with each one of us.

Every year, the family meets at Nantahala Village for a family reunion of sorts. He loved being with the family at Nantahala. He really enjoyed telling stories of past escapades of his children and they would in turn tell theirs. Some true, some with a little extra added. The grandkids would march around the "big house" singing "Father Charlie Conn had many kids....and many kids had Father Charlie Conn." The Conn Clan is a very close group of people. A family filled with love for one another.

I have so many stories that there is just not enough room to write in this blog. Perhaps, I will tell more. All I know is that I loved the man for being a great father-in-law, father to my wife and grand father to my three daughters. He taught us how to die....with total dignity.