Constance "Connie" Blanche Lawson

Constance (Connie) Blanche Lawson (Arkland) of Atkinson, IL, peacefully left her weak and broken body on November 17, 2022.   As were her wishes, cremation rites will be accorded, and her family will take her ashes back to the Wyoming mountains that she loved as a young woman.   Vandemore Funeral Homes & Crematory – Geneseo Chapel will be assisting the family.

Born February 10, 1947, in Lake City, Iowa, she was the oldest child of Glen and Clara (Roman) Arkland.  A 1965 graduate of J.D. Darnall High School, she worked several jobs including nearly two decades as a CNA and rehab aid at Hillcrest Home where she spent her own final days. 

She married Charles Lawson on August 23, 1974 and spent nearly fifty years of marriage making memories and raising their daughter, Charlesa.  Despite a lifetime of tragic events, physically demanding work, and finding ways to make ends meet, Connie never let that stop her from living and loving.  She saw most of the country from the seat of a motorcycle, snowmobile, or big black Dodge Power Wagon.  She fished for salmon on Oregon’s Klamath River, star-gazed from the Wyoming mountains, worked the hay fields of Nevada, and watched fire-flies dance over Illinois cornfields.  She loved camping, fishing, gardening, and riding motorcycles with her husband.  More than anything, she loved her family, a beloved wife, mother, and Oma.

Left to carry her memories forward are her husband, Chuck, daughter Charlesa (Ken) Arnold of Lake Villa, and her cherished granddaughter, McKenna.

Those who awaited her include her parents, two younger brothers, and numerous loved ones from her husband’s side of the family.