Elizabeth Sisk "Betty" Connors

1926 - 2020

Waterford - Elizabeth "Betty" Sisk Connors passed away peacefully in her sleep April 28, 2020. It has been very hard on the family as we could not see her due to our social distancing these days. Betty was born in Worcester, Mass. Dec. 26, 1926, and moved to Perry Street in New London with her parents, Walter and Emma Sisk and her brother Robert "Pop" Sisk.

She graduated from Williams Memorial Institute (WMI) and enjoyed attending their reunions until recently. She fell in love with her best friend, Donald Connors, whom she married in 1947, in Syracuse where Don attended college. They later moved to Groton and then to Fulmore Drive, Waterford where they raised their five children.

After Don retired, Betty and Don traveled in a motor home for three years, taking in all the sights the United States had to offer, including Alaska. They used to say they were in search of the best happy hour the USA could offer! They loved their shrimp for twenty-five cents and two-dollar cocktails. When family visited, happy hour haunts were the first place to go after getting off the plane. They finally settled in Cape Coral, Fla. where Betty got her pool. Our family loved to visit, and we did so in droves.

Mom was known for her red lipstick; she had to have it on at all times. She tried to force her daughters to wear it, while growing up, but to no avail. But the best memories are picnics at Rocky Neck and Devil's Hopyard, Mom's famous spaghetti sauce, major holidays at Fulmore Drive where the living room became a very large dining room and boating on the Niantic River with Patty and Bill's boat. After Don passed away in 1993, Mom volunteered at Hospice, as she remembered how kind they were in treating our father. She still continued to travel, cruising the Mediterranean and the Caribbean islands and visiting her daughters in California. We moved Mom up to Connecticut to be closer to the family four years ago. In the past few years, she loved riding in her son Don's convertible and traveling with her son Jimmy up and down the east coast. She loved going out with family to get clam chowder, Boston-style of course, lobster and a glass or two of red wine.

Betty is survived by her children: Deborah Connors of Waterford, Patty Carr and her husband Bill Carr, her "favorite son-in-law," he said, of Niantic, Donna Connors of San Diego, Calif., Donald Connors Jr. of Waterford and James "Jimmy" Connors of Cape Coral, Fla. She leaves behind her devoted grandchildren: Dana Carr and husband Brendan Yourell, Dylan Carr and wife Kim, Jordan Haleftiras and wife Simone, Sarah Scully and husband Pat, Caitlyn O'Hara and husband Mike, Brittany Robinson and husband Matt and Kelliann Connors of Waterford. Betty also had 15 great-grandchildren, one of which was born on her birthday, Dec. 26, but 90 years apart, Kinsley O'Hara.

A private graveside service will be conducted at St Mary's Cemetery in the Sisk-Connors plot. A celebration of her life will be planned in the summer for family and friends.