Clifford James ‘Jim’ Conner
Clifford James ‘Jim’ Conner was born in San Angelo, Texas on April 9th, 1935. He grew up in Eldorado with his older brother, Orville ‘Bud’ Conner and was raised mostly by his Granddad Conner, who was the town Sheriff, and his Meme. He would share old stories of working at the local feed store at age 13, shearing sheep for wool, bagging feed and stacking cotton bales for a wage of 20 cents an hour.
Growing up in West Texas, he learned about farming, livestock, hunting, and was good at leather smithing. A graduate of Eldorado HS, he was drafted in the Army and served in Germany. He wrote letters back home tohis sweetheart, Mettie Fae Davis, who grew up on the Buck Davis farm in Eldorado. They knew each other from a young age and through high school. She was in Austin attending UT during that time. Upon being honorably discharged and returning from the service, he was in Port Arthur-Groves where his mother Thelma and stepdad Johnny Cerami lived. He asked Mettie Fae to marry him.
Jim and Fae married on November 4th, 1961 in Austin. They lived in Floresville and then moved to Lockhart where Jim worked as a technician for the Tickle Veterinarian Clinic in San Marcos while earning a degree in Ag Science at SWTSU. Jim took a job with the Hays County Health Dept. as an inspector where he made many lifelong friends and worked until his retirement. Good times included the annual Chilympiad Cookoff with Ol’ Devil’s Rattlesnake Chili and daily coffee breaks with friends at the Texan and many other local San Marcos establishments. After retirement, he stayed busy with his own business of designing rural wastewatersystems for local contractors. He would drive to meet contractors at job sites, and would always have Willie’s Roadhouse playing on his truck radio. At the age of 90, when renewing his professional licenses with TCEQ last year, they said he was the oldest licensee in their system. He worked up until a few months before his passing. His desk was in front of his big tv where he watched every college and pro football game that aired. He enjoyed his work. He also spent time in the kitchen making homemade salsa, fresh fruit jams, and big pot of meatballs or stew when family visited.
Fae and Jim had two sons, Chris born in 1965 and Bryan in 1967. The Conner homestead of 5 acres on Boggy Creek in Lockhart is where they raised their boys with fishing poles and motorcycles, planted vegetable gardens and raised animals for FFA shows and pets, always welcoming family and friends. Road trips to different State Parks and the annual summer camping trips with the Pond Family at Canyon Lake are among the boy’s favorite memories. They were in bowling leagues and played cards and dominoes regularly with friends. After the boys married and had families of their own, frequent visits from their 3 granddaughters, Ashlee, Lauren and McKenzie, brought great joy. Most recently, two great-grandkids, Conner Fae & Grey James, enjoyed Pa Jim’s candy jar, sitting on the tractor and throwing rocks in the creek.
Fae passed in 2021 and Jim lived on the Conner homestead until his last day on January 12, 2026. Jim ‘Pops-Dad-Pa Jim-Uncle Jim’ was surrounded by family and watching college football playoffs in his final days. Bryan and Chris took the best care of their Dad. They regularly enjoyed BBQ ribs and talking deer hunting together. While the city has grown closer to the Conner place, it still feels like the country as the windmill changes directions, the deer with their young graze in the back pasture, and the youngest generations of the Conner family are down at the creek or riding a go cart around the yard. Today, Jim and Fae are together again. The West Texas that raised them and the Conner homestead on Boggy Creek that raised their boys, decades of storytelling, and time with family and friends leave us with the memories we will keep and share for generations to come.
Chris and Bryan invite family and friends of their dad, Jim Conner, to a come and go visitation held Saturday, January 31 from 2-4pm at the McCurdy Funeral Home at 105 East Pecan Street, Lockhart, Texas. Private arrangements will be held at later date.
