Richard Allen Connell

On September 30, eighteen days shy of his 82nd birthday, Richard Connell (known as Dick) passed away on the last day of September, 2025, at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin, North Carolina. The cause of death was esophageal cancer and congestive heart failure.

He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to parents Raymond S. Connell and Marie G. Connell, both of whom predeceased him by many years.

Dick was raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, and attended Montgomery College, Anne Arundel Community College, and Johns Hopkins University. He had a varied career. As a young man he explored the world as a merchant seaman, shipping out of the west coast, and as a cowboy in Nevada. In mid-life he practiced as a CPA, wrote business software, and became an internet security professional.

He and his family lived for many years in Annapolis, Maryland, then moved to Easton, Maryland, and Raleigh, North Carolina. At retirement he and his wife moved to Dobson in Surry County and established a vineyard providing grapes to several local wineries. He is a past treasurer of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association.

Dick was a convinced Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) and served as clerk of Salem Creek Friends Meeting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for two years. He was also treasurer of Friends Committee on North Carolina Legislation, a Quaker organization advocating for social justice, election protection, and on environmental issues.

Left behind are his wife Christina Connell; son Ricky Connell and his wife Roni Tai, of Concord, California; brother Ray Connell of Elkin, North Carolina, and Lubec, Maine; sister and brother-in-law Peg and John McCluskey of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania; his loyal "coffee group" that met weekends as well as other friends and neighbors. A service is being planned for a later date. Moody-Davis Funeral Service in Dobson is serving the Connell family.