Connie Mae

Connie Mae

The following is a tribute to Constance Mae Hall Downie, my soulmate these more then 50 years, on her date of birth, December 23, 1939 with all my love.

From This Day Forward :

Born before The Big War, the global one,
Youngest daughter of Florence & Charles Hall,
(Their union was a real productive one)
Connie was preceded by eight sisters,
After her, finally came a boy, Douglas.
She was, as all her siblings were, hill born ;
They populated what's called Chicken Hill
Through the depression, well past WW2.

To Have and To Hold

Christmas Holidays greet Connie's birthday
While announcing winter's snow calendar.
Late December is a tough date,
Such busy time near the end of the year.
She has sparse time to fully celebrate,
Year after year, the others always first.
Even today, never ever complains,
Connie goes with the flow, the show goes on.

In Sickness & In Health

Connie and I joined in marriage, April
22, 1964, at Grace Lutheran Church.
On that Wednesday evening, off we went
To New Hope on the Delaware River,
A cottage, change of cloths, a late night bite
At a lodge south across the canal bridge
Between it and the Delaware River.
In loving embrace was night's restless sleep.

In Good Times And In Bad

Off to the World's Fair in New York City
Stopping first in Portland, Pa. where we bought
Two Windsor Benches and a Windsor High
Backed Chair from Frederick Duckloe & Bros.
New York City, downtown at the Taft Hotel,
We went to Flushing Meadows by subway.
An adventure that everyone should take
Sometime in life, hand in hand- arm in arm.

To Love & Cherish

Home : Heather, Lia, Ronnie - Chestnut Street,
Walnut Street and Evans Street - these our homes,
Now forty years, Evans Street, our homestead.
Connie raised our children, my business, work :
Industry, partnerships, garden centers, 
Tree and plants contracting, buying, selling.
Heather to college, Lia followed suit,
Ronnie went my way, bound to Mother Earth.

For Richer Or Poorer

Connie learned plants, she still works plants today;
In fact, she's our bread winner, our savior.
Social security just doesn't cut it,
Especially, if want more than just eat.
These latter years I've not walked very well,
Football is a debilitating sport.
Our bread winner, too, is my care giver;
Without her I'm sunk, future would be bleak.

To Love You & Honor You

From soul mate, lover, mother, home maker, 
Bread winner, care giver, I owe my
Life to my wife, Constance, "In Thee, I Trust".
Life's a story with many a chapter,
Each built upon the preceding ones, each
Wrestles with good and bad, fiction or fact,
The idea is to keep the theme honest.
Love is an endearing theme of the heart.

Until ... Do Us ... !

With All My Love,
Ron