Connie J Morales

Born September 10, 1966, in San Antonio, Texas, she was the daughter of Marcelino Jaime and Selfa Jaime and the sister of Dalia Rios and Baldemar Jaime, all from San Antonio, Texas. As a baby her parents nicknamed Connie, “Amor”, an endearing name for their youngest daughter.

She grew up in the country where she learned to love and care for animals. She would tell stories of animals she raised and cared for during her childhood. Whether it was the racoon that made a hibernation spot out of her bed one winter or her turtle that was allowed to roam the house or her little white duckling that she raised, she cared for every single one like they were her babies.

Connie and I married in ’89. We didn’t have much at first and she didn’t ask for much. We were young and already had two babies, Muffy and Knibbles, our two dogs. She took care of them like children. We would have birthday parties for them and she would invite my family to the party. And they would have to bring a present or no cake for them. 😊 And we would film the whole event. That was one of several commonalities that brought us together. Our love for dogs.

Being on our own we experienced a lot of firsts together. She loved the beach and the mountains. We were lucky enough in our early years to experience both. We lived in Boca Raton, Florida. We were young so our weekend began with Friday happy hour somewhere followed by a nite club for dancing. On Sunday she loved to hang out at the beach in Boca. Back then there was but only one Mexican restaurant in South Florida. She would make Mexican food and invite our friends over for dinner. They would never turn that down. They loved her food.

We moved to Denver, Colorado where she enjoyed spending the weekends up in the mountains and exploring new places. She enjoyed hiking with Muffy and Knibbles. And she loved trying new restaurants and experiencing different types of food. Denver was the place where we had our first human child, Tara. Her world changed and she became a loving and nurturing mother to her newest daughter. As we moved back to Dallas, our son, Preston was born and she again fell in love and raised our two kids.

She was one of the strongest persons I got to know. Almost twelve years ago she overcame AML Leukemia. As a result of the stem cell transplant, she was diagnosed with graft-versus- host disease (GVHD). She had battled this disease and was able to overcome it and keep on with her daily life, raising our kids. She infused resiliency in our children, taught them to be strong and persevere through the toughest of times. Tara and Preston are in college now and she was very proud of all the achievements they made.

In August of 2015, her first grandson, Jackson was born. She immediately jumped on the first plane to North Carolina. Jackson was born premature and I had some medical complications. My mom stepped up to help take care of both of us during this time. She then went on to take care of Jackson throughout the first two years of his life, by loving, nurturing and creating a deep bond with him. He was the new addition to her heart.

These last couple of years she was in and out of hospitals. She entered the hospital on April 22nd for pneumonia. We prayed and saw her every day to give her support as she did for us so many times. The GVHD had taken over her lungs and in the last few days caused her kidneys to fail and septic shock. She is now with the Lord smiling upon us all.