Constance Mae “Connie” (Kyhl) Amosson (1939-1995)

AMOSSON, JENNINGS, RUTLEDGE

Posted By: Eileen Reed
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:54

The Eagle Grove Eagle
Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, August 2, 1995
Page 14, Column 6

Death Notice

Funeral Services for Connie Amosson, 56, of Dallas, Texas, were held Monday, July 31 in Plano, Texas. Mrs. Amosson is the wife of Jerry Amosson former Eagle Grove resident.

Survivors include her mother-in-law, Vaughna Amosson and sisters-in-law Lynne (Mrs. Wayne) Jennings and Julia (Mrs. Wm.) Rutledge and families all of Eagle Grove.
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The Eagle Grove Eagle
Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Page 14, Columns 1- 6

"Look at dying as a beginning" suggests courageous artist Connie Amosson.

A dear friend and co-worker, Lynne Jennings, recently showed me an article written in the Dallas Morning News about her sister-in-law, Connie Amosson. I am sorry to admit that I did not work on the revision of the story right away, partially because I spent time looking for a local Lou Gehrig disease tie-in.

I have come to the conclusion that all stories do not have to have an Eagle Grove base, and this story has a strong enough impact that it will just be beneficial reading. Amosson family members in Eagle Grove include her mother-in-law, Vaughna Amosson, and sister-in-law’s, Lynne Jennings and Julie Rutledge, and their families.

Connie Amosson was an artist and founding member of the Gallery VIII cooperative art gallery based in Piano, Texas. She learned last fall that she had a progressive neuromuscular condition commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Connie passed away July 28, 1995. She was 56 years young, and had lived her life as an inspiration to others.

"I look at dying as a beginning," she said. "If I viewed it as the end of all ends, I would become very bitter."

Even imminent death did not alter her courageously spiritual approach to life. Her nurturing qualities, strong faith, and frank discussion about disease and death were valuable gifts she left to all who knew her.

"People are on pins and needles when they come to visit you," she said. "They don't know how to deal with death, so it is up to the one who is dying to bring it up." Her open, honest communication interjected with wit as well as free flowing tears, has both enlightened and educated those whose lives she has touched.

"Our first reaction was denial," said Martha Rae Baker, a close friend and fellow artist, "Then anger and all the other things you go through when you're facing this kind of thing. But Connie has an acceptance about her, and she's the one giving us the strength."

Connie is a native of Parkersburg, Iowa and a graduate of the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids. In 1962 she married Jerry Amosson of Eagle Grove. (Editor's note: One of Connie's wishes was that her husband attend his EGHS Class of 1955 reunion to be held Labor Day weekend in Eagle Grove, as they had originally planned to do. He agreed and is planning to attend his 40th reunion this weekend.) She worked as a nurse for about 10 months before devoting her time to raising her family. In 1969 she began to oil paint as a hobby, and spent the rest of her life teaching art and taking art lessons. In the mid-1970's the Amosson family moved to Texas.

In October of 1994, she was diagnosed with the ALS and was the third member of her immediate family to be diagnosed with the disease. Her mother bad died in 1963, and a brother had died in 1991, living only four months after learning he had the gene mutation. ALS cripples the voluntary muscles, is relatively pain free and does not affect the mental faculties.

The family has been included in a Northwestern University study focusing on the inherited form of the disease, which causes only 5 to 10 percent of ALS cases, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

According to Dr. Wilson Bryan, a neurologist at the ALS Clinic of the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, "There is an identified genetic mutation that causes ALS in some of these hereditary cases, so that allows a blood test to be done to identify a small percentage of the genetic cases. This diagnosis by a blood test and a relatively rapid course of the disease are things that are peculiar to Connie's family." There is two to five months life expectancy from the onset of heredity cases.

The life expectancy for a nonhereditary ALS patient at the time of diagnosis is two to five years, Dr. Bryan said, with the average onset of 55. Although there is no cure for the mysterious disease, two drugs now in clinical trials show promise in slowing its progression.

"If that's true, these will be the first two medications to have any effect on the disease," Dr. Bryan said. "Granted, these two drugs don't stop the disease, but they have an impact on slowing it or prolonging a life. That's a small step for the patient but a giant step in the progress of ALS research. We need to understand the disease before we get a cure, but (the hope for a cure) is what keeps us and the patient going."

Connie had no desire to prolong her life with drugs or devices, but hoped the medical advances could help the future generations of her family. Her five children each have a fifty percent chance of carrying the gene mutation that causes the Lou Gehrig's disease, but none of them have been tested. Her daughter Maria says she believes that just knowing would be easier to live with, and plans to be tested. Her brother Brett has no plans to be tested. "I don't see that it would be a benefit to my life," he said.

Brett's wife Tammy added, "We look at Connie^ life and she's done more in her lifetime than most people who live 100 years., She's made such an impact on this world and made such a difference in so many lives. You could die of anything."

Tammy, a youth minister at St, Jude Catholic Church in Allen, Texas, credits her mother-in-law with the idea to assign a theme to each day of recent community service works being done across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. One day of the "Mission-Possible" theme was "Guide to a Happy Life", another was "Random Acts of Kindness" and another, dedicated to Connie, was the "Angels Among Us".

Connie's paintings began as landscapes, florals, and abstracts, but one day one of the abstracts took on the image of an angel. Since then, she has turned out one angel after another in various mediums of painting.

Prior to her recent death, she gave away over 250 original paintings. In each painting of the angels, the words "I Love You" are incorporated. Her children have had prints of her angel paintings made into note cards and have started the Amosson Gallery in Carrollton, Texas.

But as far as everyone who knew Connie is concerned, she was the true 'Angel Among Us'.