Pauline Mildred Keeley Conner

Pauline Mildred Keeley Conner, 97, of Bee House, Texas passed away on April 1, 2025, in Gatesville. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 8, at Scott’s Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Bee House Cemetery. The family will receive visitors from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Monday, April 7 at the funeral home.

Pauline was born in Oulton, England on October 16, 1927, to Clifford William Keeley and Mildred Chamberlain Keeley. She had a very happy childhood, but her father died when she was 11, and later World War II began to rage in England. Pauline had to carry a gas mask wherever she went and hid under a bed when the bombers flew over her house. At age 15, she got a job in the International Store taking the money and keeping the books. It was there she met the American serviceman, Burnard Boyce Conner, who became the love of her life. After the war ended, Boyce was sent back to Texas, and she was heartbroken. Boyce wrote and asked her to marry him in September 1945. He and his dad started building their house in Bee House. Almost a year later she was finally able to get a ticket on a freight ship from Liverpool, England to Mobile, Alabama. After 10 days on the ship, she was met by Boyce at the dock, and they went to a Methodist Church there and married on September 2, 1946. After a few days in Mobile, they rode the bus back to Texas. She was amazed at the merchandise that was available in the United States after all the rationing in England.

After growing up in town in England, Pauline had many adjustments to make to live and work on a farm, including learning to cook and eat Texas foods. Boyce and his relatives helped her to learn to cook and sew. As a farm wife, she heated water for laundry in a washpot and enjoyed having a large garden and tending her flower beds. They had three children: Bernadine, Ashley, and Paul. She was a loving mother and enjoyed attending their school and church activities and taking Paul to participate in rodeos.

After Boyce’s death in 1975, she, Paul, and Ashley worked the farm and ranch as long as they could with help from friends and relatives. Pauline loved knitting, sewing, doing embroidery and needlepoint, and making Christmas ornaments. She shared many handmade gifts with her family and friends. Loving her family so dearly, she would do anything for them and greatly enjoyed spending time with them. She took care of Ashley for 59 years until her health deteriorated. Ashley preceded her in death in 2021.

Pauline was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England. When she came to Texas, she joined the Bee House Methodist Church, and after it closed, she joined the Evant Methodist Church. Attending church was one of the great joys in her life. Pauline helped with many church activities such as Bible School and in the Evant community, she assisted in delivering Meals on Wheels. In 1968 she and Boyce erected the cross on Bee House Mountain for the community Easter sunrise service.

Pauline is survived by her son Paul Conner and wife, Lori; daughter, Bernadine Mariott and husband, Rick; grandchildren, Susan Corley and husband, Clay, Douglas Doyle and wife, Melissa, and Candice Yancy and husband, Jeremy; great grandchildren, Addison, Reese, and Harper Corley; Dyllan and Wyatt Doyle; Swayze, Liam, and Logan Yancy; and Addy Wilton; and her sister June Keeley Long who still resides in England.

Memorials may be made to the Evant Methodist Church. P.O. Box 146, Evant 76525 or the Bee House Cemetery Association, c/o Sandra Lozano 2143 CR 155, Gatesville 76528.

Her family would like to express their appreciation to Hillside Medical Lodge in Gatesville and Bluebonnet Hospice for the loving care they provided.