Ethel Eileen McConnell

E. Eileen McConnell, age 85, a five year resident of Schoenbrunn Health Care, and formerly of Uhrichsville and Midvale, died peacefully Saturday morning, June 24, 2006. Born at Martins Ferry, Ohio, September 13, 1920, Eileen was one of twenty children born to the late James Morris Grant and his wife Viola Schucht Grant. At a young age, Eileen contracted polio, and was reared in Belmont County attending six different schools in her 12 years of education. Eileen was a familiar face to families in the Tuscarawas Valley, as she was known affectionately as “The Toy Lady” in her door-to-door sales capacity for more than twenty-five years. She loved to sew, quilt and crochet. Despite her busy career selling toys, Eileen thought of herself first and foremost as a homemaker for her husband, and three daughters and her son, all of whom could count on Eileen for a warm welcome and a hearty meal on any occasion. Spending time with her family Â? making candy and just being together in one place brought Eileen her greatest satisfaction. Her family includes daughters Marilyn (Earl) Shroyer of Uhrichsville, Bertha Baxter of Midvale, Penny (James) McKain of New Philadelphia; one son Donald McConnell of Uhrichsville; three grandchildren, Darla (Tom) Ohler of New Philadelphia, Anthony (Marcy) McKain of Bowerston, and Krystal Baxter of Midvale; six great-grandchildren, Andrew, Cory, Tyler and Toni McKain, all of Bowerston, and Woodrow Ohler and Alicia Moss, both of New Philadelphia; six sisters, Ann Fisher of Massillon, Betty (Andy) Snyder of Navarre, Mary Ellen Boston of Jacobsburg, Ohio, Thelma (Carl) Barton of St. Clairsville, Ohio, Rossie (Danny) Barr of Glenco, Ohio, Judy Periglosi of Bellaire, Ohio; three brothers, Tom Grant of Jacobsburg, Ohio, William (Charlotte) Grant of Newport News, Virginia, and David Grant of St. Clairsville, Ohio. Eileen was especially fond of her sister-in-law, Mabel McConnell of Roswell, and her foster-granddaughter Theresa (Banjo) Proof of Uhrichsville, and her two special friends Barbi Sutton of New Philadelphia and Ruthann Renner of Tuscarawas. In addition to her parents and husband, Mrs. McConnell was preceded in death by brothers John, Jim, Pete, and Robert Grant, sisters Nellie Bell, Josephine Jackson, Cora McKeag and infant sisters Clara and Loretta Grant. Friends are invited to call Tuesday evening from 5 PM until 8 PM in the Linn-Hert-Geib Funeral Home & Crematory at New Philadelphia where the Rev. Bud Milligan will lead funeral services at 10:30 Wednesday morning in the funeral home’s chapel. Burial will follow in Ridgecrest Memory Gardens at Dover. Following the committal service, family and friends will gather for a reception in the Geib Family Center, adjacent to the funeral home. In completing a written life story earlier this month, Eileen wrote that if she could be remembered for just one thing, she would hope that it would be for the things that she did for others, and for the great advice that she gave to her children. Let it be so.