Connie O'Bleness

Connie Carol McMinimy O’Bleness passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at the age of 90. She was surrounded by family at Fairwinds Sand Creek in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Connie was born during the dirty 30’s in Ashland, KS on July 18, 1933. She remembered struggling to get home from her two room school in a blinding dust storm. She had to feel with her feet for the road. Home was the family cattle ranch where she lived with her parents; Namoi Lee Pyle McMinimy and Vernon W. McMinimy and her brothers Bill, Ranny and Milton. She graduated from Ashland High School where she met the love of her life George Vernon O’Bleness. They married in the Christian Church in Ashland on December 27, 1952. An ice storm blew in the night before their wedding and frosted all the trees in town. The whole town matched the flocked trees that decorated the church for the ceremony.

Connie and George moved to Colorado Springs, CO. It was in Colorado that they began to raise their family. Connie gave birth to 5 children; Carol (Jerry) Nyberg-Caraviotis, Katy (Mike) Kramp, Mike (Gretchen) O’Bleness, Rebecca (Cal) MacLean and Patrick (Angie) O’Bleness. The family lived in CO, NY, IL, TX, CO and ID over the years. Raised on a cattle ranch cooking for the farm hand(s), Connie was a great cook. She loved baking bread and was famous for her cinnamon rolls that she would make while she and George ran a Bed and Breakfast. Her Friday night pizza attracted the neighborhood kids. Connie became a second mother to many of them. Often we came home from school or work to find our friends hanging out with Mom. 

We will always remember Mom’s warm and infectious laugh, her love for family, her down to earth, generous and welcoming spirit. She always made everyone feel right at home. She was practical and adaptable wherever she lived. Most of all she was a loving person who was much loved. She was an active church member and an avid student of the Bible throughout her long life. As testimony to this we found “The Complete Works of Josephus” on her bookshelf as we were packing her apartment.

Connie was an avid traveler. Even after George passed away Connie would hit the road to visit her relatives across the country. During these trips she would pursue her interest in both geology and genealogy by visiting cemeteries, caves and digging for gems and fossils. She was also known to go backpacking, even baking bread on the trail. She was proud to have visited all 50 states.

We would especially like to thank the staff of Fairwinds Sand Creek and Hospice of Eastern Idaho for their loving care of Connie, as well as us.

Connie is survived by 4 of her children, 9 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband George and her daughter Katy.

There will be a private burial in Ashland, KS and a Celebration of Life at a later time.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

Hospice of Eastern Idaho, 1810 Moran St., Idaho Falls, ID 83401-4337 https://hospiceofeasternidaho.com/donate/

or Development Workshop, 555 West 25th Street, Idaho Falls, ID 83402 https://www.dwinc.org/donation-form/