Laura Nelle Drury Connor

Laura Nelle (Drury) Connor had her homecoming to the presence of the Lord on Sunday morning at her home in Brentwood, TN. As Paul says in says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 if we walk by faith then we are confident that to be absent from the body is to be home with the Lord.

Laura Nelle Drury was born in Nashville January 9, 1953. She grew up in Nashville with her four siblings Tommy, Linda, Terry, and Jimmy. She graduated from Overton High School as valedictorian in 1971, then Vanderbilt University as Phi Beta Kappa in 1975, and Vanderbilt Medical School in 1979. She met Dan Connor at Vanderbilt in her senior year while he was in Medical School. Laura and Dan were married April 2, 1977.

Laura completed medical school, and while Dan was completing Resident training they began their family having their first son, Nathan. They subsequently had a daughter, Rachel, and another son, Joshua. After years of nurturing the children, including some home schooling of Nathan, she for a number of years used her medical training to teach anatomy, physiology, and microbiology at Nashville Community College. The family grew and she eventually became mother-in-law of three spouses, and grandmother of seven, four grandsons and three granddaughters.

Laura played the piano and loved praising the Lord. She was also a gifted painter with many of her pictures adorning the walls of her home. Gardening was a great joy for her with her loving her organic produce and especially her blueberry bushes. She took many trips to the library to pick out books she thought the grandkids would like and that she could read to them. She also liked picking out new games for the grandkids. The home hosted many people over the years, family members, extended family, and others, and Laura was the heart of that hospitality, a gracious Godly woman.

So, these are some of the details of Laura’s life, but do not express the depth of Laura. She had great spiritual depth, was a prayer warrior who prayed with and for many, and had a generous humble servant’s heart who loved Jesus that blessed many, her family, the church, and beyond. She sought to be a joyful Christian. She was always willing to help and was very integral in the Homeless Ministry at Belmont Church where she contacted and facilitated getting a shower bus as ministry partners and ran and expanded the clothing ministry. She was deeply appreciated and loved by the many homeless, many who voiced that she was an angel. She served many and was loved by all who knew her for her gentle humble giving spirit. As she cared for the poor and unhoused, she was also an advocate for the unborn and had been very involved in efforts to help direct women in crisis pregnancies to seek life, both for their unborn, an ultimately better emotional health for the mothers. She was a “good and faithful servant” who being an example of a woman of God left a rich legacy of blessing. Her steadfast faithfulness, care, and compassion impacted many and will live on in every heart she touched.

She absolutely knew that Jesus was “the way, the truth, and the life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6), and that through Him was the only real answer for the problem of sin in the world, and that in an increasingly confused world He is the source of real meaning of purpose, rather than an endless pursuit of self. She knew and accordingly lived that Jesus is the only real answer for why we are here, who we are truly created to be, and what awaits after this physical life if we know Him.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Harry Thomas Drury Jr. and Wilma Huff Drury and brother, Terry Drury. She is survived by her husband of 48 years Dan Connor of Brentwood; her older son, Nathan Connor and his wife Stacey and son, Liam, of Nashville; daughter, Rachel Connor-Hunt and her husband, Joshua, her son, Kai, and daughter Kiera, of Ewing, New Jersey; and younger son, Joshua Connor and his wife, Kirstie, and sons, Israel and Caleb, and daughters, Annelise and Jubilee, of Thompson Station, Tennessee. She is also survived by an older brother, Thomas Drury, of Prattville, Alabama; a sister, Linda Scott of Franklin, Tn.; and younger brother, James Drury, of Franklin.

Services will be at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home on Sunday, March 1, 2026. Visitation will be 1:00 to 3:00 and the Service at 3:00.