| Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Nellie Connally was so gracious that the title "first lady" fit her well, and fit her well after she and Gov. John Connally moved out of the Governor's Mansion in 1969.
The former governor's shadow was so wide it was difficult to get out from under it, but Nellie Connally managed to do so with grace. That grace, however, masked a toughness that she needed to stand by her man as he weathered the political, personal and financial storms of a long public life.
Nellie Connally died peacefully over the weekend and, of course, much of the focus in the obituaries was that she was a passenger in the Lincoln convertible that carried President Kennedy to his death in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
The grace with which she carried herself and lived her life also got a lot of attention. Nearly lost in all that was her enormous reservoir of inner strength.
Nellie Connally endured the heartbreak of losing a child and of seeing her husband shot as she waved to apparently adoring crowds lining the Dallas streets.
In the history books, Nellie Connally will be frozen in time on that day when she uttered perhaps the last words John F. Kennedy heard on this earth: "Mr. President, you certainly cannot say that Dallas does not love you."
The famous quote obscures the way she protected her wounded husband from further harm by covering his body with hers as the presidential car sped toward Parkland Hospital. The events of the day disoriented even hardened combat veterans of World War II, but Nellie Connally remained lucid enough to keep historically valuable notes — notes that provide a human perspective on the final few moments of Kennedy's life.
To Austin and Texas, Nellie Connally was more than a supporting character in the assassination drama. She was our first lady. She put a touch of beauty to her personal and political surroundings. The roses at the Governor's Mansion are among her touches.
Her way of charming even her husband's political foes was another trademark. Like any successful politician, John Connally was not universally loved, but Nellie Connally almost certainly was.
The sight of her maintaining her composure while an auctioneer gaveled the sale of personal belongings the couple were forced to sell to cover debts after their bankruptcy declaration was a textbook example of grace under pressure.
She was at her husband's side as Texas started pulling away from the old economy to the new. Not only did she witness the beginnings of modern Texas, Nellie Connally put her stamp on it. Not even cancer could dent Nellie Connally's strength and grace.
We express our condolences to the family and the state. The family lost a mother; Texas lost a most remarkable daughter. | |
