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Our Families - Our Lives. Write-Link Project
Emon M.
June 22, 2005 CORNELLA "CONNIE" C.
I talked with Connie C. and I thought that she was just an all around
sweet, loving, and caring person. She was so down to Earth and had a
lot of energy. Connie is only 68 years young and still has a lot of
living to do. My first impression of her was that I thought she really
wouldn't have anything exciting to tell because she doesn't look like
she's really been through anything. She basically looked boring, but
looks are deceiving because she is a really interesting person. She
doesn't look as old as she is; she has really short gray and black hair,
she is average height, and skinny. She was really nice and easygoing
and I would love to talk to her again someday.
In a recent interview Connie C. discussed her family. She talked about
her children Debbie 52, Jimmie 34 (deceased), and Melissa. Her son Jimmie
passed away 15 years ago during a drug deal that terribly wrong. Connie
also spoke about her brother which is the only sibling she has. Her
brother suffered from polio when he was a child. Fortunately, he didn't
become paralyzed from the illness. Connie has been married twice and
she has four grand children, and four great grand children.
Connie was born in Gillette, Wyoming, but grew up right here in Ypsilanti,
Michigan. She and her family moved here during the Second World War.
Connie was born on July 16, 1936.
Connie spoke about some of the turning points in her life. She said
that a major turning point in her life was when she had her first child
at 17 years old, and didn't get a chance to finish high school. She
talked about some of the dreams and inspirations she had when she was
young. Connie had dreams of being a physical therapist or a dress designer;
she also had dreams of getting married someday.
During the interview she shared some of her most important accomplishments.
Connie finished high school and attended Washtenaw Community College
in 1975 and finished school with two degrees.
Connie mentioned some of the regrets in her lifetime. She says that
she regrets not going to college earlier because she could've done so
much more. She says that she also regrets not making enough money when
she needed it the most because of her situations with her children.
In the interview I asked her a few questions about what she thought
was important at 17. Connie said that when she was 17 years old she
thought that reading was important because she wanted to be good at
it. She thought that having a good life was important as well as taking
good care of her daughter.
We also talked about some of the life-changing experiences she went
through. Connie said her son Jimmie's death was life- changing for her
because after that incident she had to start seeing a therapist and
she thought that was different. Another life-changing experience she
went through was her father leaving her and her family when she was
young to move to another state with his mistress. By that happening
she felt really upset and hurt to know that her own father would leave
her so suddenly. Another life-changing experience she went through was
when she was diagnosed with diabetes.
I felt great during the interview because Connie and I had a lot in
common and we laughed a lot and made silly jokes about little things.
Even though we had a good time during the interview I noticed that her
voice would change when she was asked about a hardship in her life.
That's understandable because I know that some of the things in her
past are still hard to talk about to this day.
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