Edward Grant Connette, Jr.

Ed Connette was a fun-loving soul who showed us what it means to be young at heart. More than that, though, he showed us what it means to make a difference in this unsettled world. As a Presbyterian pastor, he inspired his flock to join him in loving your neighbor and reaching out to the least of these. That was his greatest source of joy, and his legacy.

Edward Grant Connette Jr. died on December 10, 2024, after a period of declining health. He was 96. A frugal child of the Great Depression, had he known the cost of a cremation, he might still be here.

Ed was born on September 20, 1928, in Nashville, Tennessee, the only child of Edward and Elise Kirtland Connette. To his parents’ great relief – by all accounts he was a jokester with a short attention span – he graduated from high school at Duncan Academy in 1946, where he made lifelong friends. While in high school during World War II, he sold programs for country legend Roy Acuff at the Grand Ole Opry.

He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1951 with a degree in Business. While at UT he spotted a gorgeous coed walking across campus. Unable to catch her eye, he lobbed a tennis ball her way as she walked across the courts on the way to class. Liza Stone should have known what was to come. Getting dressed for a formal dance, Ed concealed a spot on his white shirt with baby powder, which wound up on Liza’s dark velvet dress. This would be the first of a lifetime of gaffes and laughs.

The two were married on November 10, 1951, and spent 72 years together until Liza’s passing in 2023 at age 93. Ed and Liza were loving, effusive parents, grandparents and great grandparents. They shared a love of the sea and mountains, entertaining, dancing, reading and traveling. What a blessed union.

During the Korean conflict, Ed served as a Casualty Assistance Officer at Sewart Air Force Base near Nashville. His job involved notifying families of the death of a loved one, then supporting them through difficult times. This was when the call to ministry came through loud and clear.

After his discharge from the Air Force, Ed and Liza moved to Richmond, Va., where he attended Union Theological Seminary. After graduating in 1956, the family moved to Wilmington, N.C. where Ed served as assistant pastor, and very soon thereafter senior pastor, at St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church.

At St. Andrews-Covenant, Ed led the congregation and served the community during the turbulent years of school integration, racial conflict and the Vietnam War. In word and deed, he sought ways to advance equality, dismantle segregation and fight racism. In so doing, he found himself in the company of other good-hearted, well-intentioned people striving for a better tomorrow for all God’s children. In that spirit, Ed led the formation of the Seamen’s Service Center that still offers support to crew members of cargo ships visiting Wilmington’s port.

In 1974, Ed and his family moved back to Richmond, where he served as head pastor for 17 years at Westminster Presbyterian Church. During those years, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree, participated in a pastoral counseling program, and mentored seminary students who worshiped with the congregation.

Ed retired from Westminster in 1991, and he and Liza returned to Wilmington. There, Ed served as an associate for pastoral care at St. Andrews-Covenant, then, in his later years, as supply preacher and interim pastor of several rural congregations. Ed was pushing 90 the last time he climbed into a pulpit to deliver a prayer at the funeral of a beloved friend.

Back in Wilmington, Ed and Liza resumed old friendships and cultivated new ones. They continued their adventures with boats and fishing and began an annual family beach gathering with multiple generations and traditions. In the early 1990s, Ed launched a neighborhood Fourth of July parade. Folks lined the street to see flags mounted on riding lawn mowers, followed by a fire truck, kids on decorated bicycles, dolled-up dogs, makeshift floats and neighborhood jugglers and musicians.

Ed enjoyed a remarkable number of hobbies over his lifetime, including fishing, sailing, beekeeping, building small model ships, oil painting, sailboat-building, furniture-making and creating lamps and furniture from items salvaged from World War II Liberty Ships. He relished canoe trips with his children and grandchildren. Well into his 70s, he was sleeping outdoors, carrying a canoe over his head on rocky trails, slipping in mud, swatting mosquitoes and creating indelible memories.

Perhaps Ed’s greatest personal failure was as a banjo player. In his late 70s, he bought a used banjo and set out to tame it. At gatherings of family and friends, he’d pull his poor banjo from the corner and attack the strings with aspiration and passion. Sometimes he produced a recognizable melody, often driving others from the room in the process. If the banjo had been hidden by family, he might pick up a harmonica or ukulele or simply break out in some song unrelated to anything else happening in the room. If there was music in the air, no matter how awful, it was a good sign Ed was happy.

Ed is survived by five children and their spouses – Edward G. Connette III and Jane Harper of Charlotte, N.C., Sarah Connette Rand and Jim Rand of Raleigh, N.C., Betty Connette and Walt Clapp of Raleigh, N.C., Albert Connette and Charlotte Matthews of Crozet, Va., and Andy and Jules Connette of Wilmington, N.C.  

His grandchildren and step grandchildren and their spouses include David and Lisa Porter of Wilmington, N.C., Peggie Porter and Keith Kirkpatrick of Charlotte, N.C., Will and Linda Rand of Madison, Wis., Joe Rand of Media, Penn., Grant and Katie LaJeunesse Connette of Front Royal, Va., Sarah Connette and Marybeth Campeau of Durham, N.C., Emma Freeauf of Charlottesville, Va., Katherine Anh Clapp of Raleigh, N.C., and Garland Freeauf of Charlottesville, Va. His great grandchildren are Hannah Rand, Sami Rand, Marie LaJeunesse Connette, and Liza Campeau Connette. 

The family is grateful to Justine Cookson, Ed’s longtime companion caregiver with Golden Harmony. Justine loved Ed and is considered family now.  The front-line caregivers at his assisted living facility are to be commended. The family also thanks Transitions Hospice, and especially nurse Eve Hewitt. The Rev. David Wiseman’s pastoral care and companionship during Ed’s end of life journey was treasured by Ed and his family alike. The family offers special thanks to Ed’s daughters, Sarah and Betty, and their husbands, Jim and Walt, all of whom tirelessly supported Ed as his need for care increased in his final years. His sons, Andy, Albert and Woody, and their wives, Jules, Charlotte and Jane, pitched in so that Ed’s last years were as good as they could be.

A service to celebrate Ed’s life will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 25, at St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1416 Market St., Wilmington, N.C. 28401. Visitation follows.

A gift in his memory can be made to the church by mail or at www.sacpc.org. or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Ed’s family cherishes lasting memories of his devotion to his loved ones, the Lord and his ministry. His life and work were lavishly flavored with his laughter, love, comfort, grace, cornball singing, silliness and freezer-burned Spanish mackerel and bluefish.

Through the hardest of times, Ed never lost faith. Love remained a bedrock for him. Hope ran through his veins until his last breath. In all that he did, he sought to “do justice, embrace kindness, and walk humbly with God.” Ed’s legacy invites us, in the words of the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, to “Walk on air against your better judgment.”