Lifetime Marshall County resident Connie Lee Ullery, passed away on Monday, March 28, 2011 at 1:31 p.m. in the Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, Ind. Connie has bravely faced her health issues over the past several years. Connie was born in Plymouth on October 23, 1944. She was the daughter of Howard E. and Nina C. (Albert) Schafer.
She graduated from LaPaz High School in 1962. There she played in the band and has for many years served as an officer for the Alumni Association.
Her career in travel took her to many locations as a guide and for the past 26 years she has been the owner-operator of the ever popular American Dream Tours, located in Plymouth.
She attended the Plymouth Missionary Church, where she was a founding member and had played the organ for many years. She was an energetic woman, who loved rainbows, WORKING, mowing the grass, speed walking and pushing sweepers. Connie possessed an extensive collection of stuffed bears and it was her wish to share that hug with others. Connie is survived by a son and his wife, Richard W. and Dawn Ullery of Bremen and a daughter, Melinda Sue and her husband Kyle Hawkins, also of Bremen. A sister, Janet Gottlieb of Hobart, survives as well.
Five grandchildren also survive: Christopher Ullery, Amanda Ullery, Sarah Hawkins, Joshua Hawkins and Aaron Hawkins. One great grandson David and an expectant great granddaughter in July also survive.
Connie’s parents preceded her in death.
Family and friends will celebrate the life of Connie Ullery during visitation on Friday, April 1st from 3-8 p.m. in the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1100 N. Michigan St., Plymouth.
Funeral services for Connie will be on Saturday, April 2nd at 11 a.m. in the Plymouth Missionary Church, 1350 E. Jefferson St., Plymouth where visitation will continue one hour prior to the service. The Rev. Patrick Puglisi, pastor, will officiate.
Burial will follow in Bremen Cemetery.
Preferred memorial gifts in Connie’s name may be made to the Missionary Church Building Fund 1350 E. Jefferson St., Plymouth, IN 46563.
Ken Shilt says
Dear Richard and Melinda Sue and the rest of the family:
I was very saddened to hear of the passing of your mom. I know that these coming few days are going to be very difficult to get through but with your strength in God and the support of each other as well as the support of the many people whose lives were touched by Connie, you will do it.
I had the most incredible time of my life the summer of 1982, when I went to work for Connie as an escort for Rainbow Travel. She took a risk on me, because she knew that I was going to get fired from a job in South Bend, but she decided to hire me sight unseen. It was a truly incredible experience!! She treated me as if I had been part of Rainbow for years and was just a part of her extended family. Connie,Hap and Ken Nifong, Dick, Karen, Jan and I, along with Fred Benner, shared many laughs with each other during that summer as we often went to the World’s Fair in Knoxville. A trip to Memphis for a travel convention was something we always remembered, even when I would return to Plymouth and drop in to see Connie at the office, Memphis would be brought up with many laughs like it had just happened yesterday.
Connie had a very special gift of talking to people and making them feel like they were old friends. For many of them, who had gone on many trips with Connie, it was like they were traveling with a dear friend. Connie firmly believed that when a person signed up to go on a trip with her, they should feel like that trip was planned especially for them. Connie always made sure that people would come away from each trip with a special memory. People like Connie do not come along very often in a person’s life, and when they do, we often take it them for granted assuming that they will alway be around or everyone is like that. It is only after we miss them that we can truly realize what a special person they really were.
What we do have, though, is a smile or a warm thought that will sneek up on us when we least expect it, because we a caught off guard by a memory that takes us back to a better place and time. For the past 19 years I have taken students to Washington D.C. and there has not been one year that when I get on a Cardinal motorcoach, that I don’t remember some of the things that Connie taught me during that wonderful summer, about how to make each trip one that will be remembered for a lifetime.
It is written that the rainbow is God’s promise that the world will not be destroyed. Connie loved rainbows because she believed that rainbows represented hope, peace after a storm and the promise of another day and all its endless possibilites. Like rainbows that bring hope after storms, we will always be reminded of Connie with every rainbow we see, and of the hope and friendship that she brought to every person she met.
During these difficult times coming up, please know that with the help of family and friends, you will be able to hold on to Connie forever, through the many wonderful memories that she gave you.
Without a written itinerary, Connie is now on her greatest tour of all!!
Something that was said when my dad passed away is so right,-Tears are the price we pay for loving someone.
Keeping your family in my prayers and thoughts.
Ken Shilt says
Dear Richard and Melinda Sue and the rest of the family:
I was very saddened to hear of the passing of your mom. I know that these coming few days are going to be very difficult to get through but with your strength in God and the support of each other as well as the support of the many people whose lives were touched by Connie, you will do it.
I had the most incredible time of my life the summer of 1982, when I went to work for Connie as an escort for Rainbow Travel. She took a risk on me, because she knew that I was going to get fired from a job in South Bend, but she decided to hire me sight unseen. It was a truly incredible experience!! She treated me as if I had been part of Rainbow for years and was just a part of her extended family. Connie,Hap and Ken Nifong, Dick, Karen, Jan and I, along with Fred Benner, shared many laughs with each other during that summer as we often went to the World’s Fair in Knoxville. A trip to Memphis for a travel convention was something we always remembered, even when I would return to Plymouth and drop in to see Connie at the office, Memphis would be brought up with many laughs like it had just happened yesterday.
Connie had a very special gift of talking to people and making them feel like they were old friends. For many of them, who had gone on many trips with Connie, it was like they were traveling with a dear friend. Connie firmly believed that when a person signed up to go on a trip with her, they should feel like that trip was planned especially for them. Connie always made sure that people would come away from each trip with a special memory. People like Connie do not come along very often in a person’s life, and when they do, we often take it them for granted assuming that they will alway be around or everyone is like that. It is only after we miss them that we can truly realize what a special person they really were.
What we do have, though, is a smile or a warm thought that will sneek up on us when we least expect it, because we a caught off guard by a memory that takes us back to a better place and time. For the past 19 years I have taken students to Washington D.C. and there has not been one year that when I get on a Cardinal motorcoach, that I don’t remember some of the things that Connie taught me during that wonderful summer, about how to make each trip one that will be remembered for a lifetime.
It is written that the rainbow is God’s promise that the world will not be destroyed. Connie loved rainbows because she believed that rainbows represented hope, peace after a storm and the promise of another day and all its endless possibilites. Like rainbows that bring hope after storms, we will always be reminded of Connie with every rainbow we see, and of the hope and friendship that she brought to every person she met.
During these difficult times coming up, please know that with the help of family and friends, you will be able to hold on to Connie forever, through the many wonderful memories that she gave you.
Without a written itinerary, Connie is now on her greatest tour of all!!
Something that was said when my dad passed away is so right,-Tears are the price we pay for loving someone.
Keeping your family in my prayers and thoughts.