Connie (Kanady) Loucks

Mrs. Cornelia Jean Loucks was known by her close family and friends as “Connie.” She was born on June 26, 1949 and died on April 17, 2020 at the age of 70. Connie was a beloved mother, wife, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend to so many. She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma at a very young age and remained there through her upbringing. A lifelong animal lover, Connie had a gift with horses. She began doing horse shows at the age of 11 and showed hunting, dressage, and jumping all over Oklahoma. She even went as far as the Germantown Charity Horse Shows. Connie became an English style riding instructor and with this was able to finance her Bachelor of Science in English from the University of Tulsa. She would buy unsuccessful race horses and train them in English riding, turn them into award winning horses, and then sell them for thousands of dollars.

In her late twenties, Connie decided that she wanted to become a nurse. She enrolled at St. Joseph’s Nursing School in Wichita, Kansas while also giving riding lessons. This was how Connie came to meet her husband Mark, who was attending graduate school At Oklahoma State University. Connie’s mother turned Mark over to Connie for Advanced English dressage, hunting, and jumping training. The two soon fell in love and were married in Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1978.

Connie worked as an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse in hospitals in Beaumont, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, and finally Germantown, Tennessee. It was in Nashville in 1982 that they adopted their daughter, Erin Marie Loucks. A year later they went to Houston, Texas to adopt their son, Karl Philip. The family of four settled in Memphis, Tennessee where Connie worked as an ICU Nurse at St. Francis, then Methodist LeBonheur Germantown Hospital. She transitioned to a Case Manager at Germantown then went on to work as a Case Manager for Cigna and then at a Health South rehab facility as a floor supervisor. She retired with disability in 2001 and settled in Moscow, Tennessee to continue her lifelong passion for animals raising: ducks, chickens, geese, horses, and many dogs and cats.

Connie is survived by her husband, Mark of Moscow, Tennessee; her daughter, Erin Loucks Schiller (Dan) of Las Vegas, Nevada; her son, Karl Loucks of Campbell, California; her grandson, Hendrix Loucks of Campbell, California; her brother, Gary Kanady of Youngsville, NC; and her niece, Renee Mason of Chetek, Wisconsin. Connie touched many lives during her time with us on this Earth and her legacy will continue after death. Arrangements for memorial services will be announced after the pandemic. At this time, the family requests everyone to please send donations to your favorite charity in lieu of flowers, or to Diabetes Research.