Connie Jean (Horns) Gillilan, 68, daughter of Arthur and Helen (Hiskey) Horns, was born on Oct. 8, 1951, in Nebraska City. She died Sept. 2, 2020, in Superior, Neb.
Connie grew up on a farm southwest of Syracuse and attended a one-room country school south of Unadilla until 1960 and Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca until 1968.
She was baptized and confirmed in the Syracuse Luther Memorial Church.
In the summer of 1968, Connie, her mother and her sister moved to Lincoln. She graduated from Lincoln Northeast High School in 1969. In 1973, Connie received a bachelor’s of science degree with a dual major from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences.
On June 17, 1978, she married Joseph Warren Gillilan in Lincoln at St.
Andrew’s Lutheran Church. Joe and Connie had three sons: Michael, Jason, and Sean.
Connie taught in Sutton and Byron public schools as a preschool teacher. In later years, she served as a para-educator through USD 333.
Connie enjoyed flower, herb and vegetable gardening, cooking, refinishing heirloom furniture, crocheting, knitting and sewing.
Connie’s father preceded her in death in 1963 and her mother in 2014.
Surviving family members include Connie’s husband, Joe of Hardy; three sons, Michael and Jason of Hardy, and Sean (and girlfriend, Mollie Frazier) of Omaha; brother-in-law, Dr. Jon Gillilan of Wichita; sister, Trudy Hill, and husband, Bob of Lincoln; niece, Krista Hill, and husband, Tony Wilson; great- nieces, Elise and Adalyn Wilson of Omaha; nephew, Mark Hill, and wife Emma (Tingting) Liu of Lincoln; and other cousins and friends.
In 2018, Connie had two corneal transplants to restore her vision because of a genetic inherited disease called Fuchs’ Dystrophy. All memorial monetary donations will be given to vision research for this disease.
A small service will be held in Superior, with immediate family, the week of Sept. 7. Her funeral and burial service will be held at a later date.
Connie’s favorite quote: “Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the
seeds. You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.”
A family service will be held Friday at the Williams Funeral Home in Superior. Interment will in the Rosemound Cemetery south of Hardy.
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