Rock Hill, SC – After many months of injuries, hospital stays, rehab and a major infection, Constance Pike Zdenek, known mostly as Connie, wife of 66 years, died at home after a brief home hospice stay.
The family will receive friends on Saturday, October 26, 2024 from 1:30 pm until 2:50 pm at Greene Funeral Home Northwest Chapel, 2133 Ebenezer Road, Rock Hill, SC 29732. A memorial service will begin at 3:00 pm at the funeral home. Immediately following the service, a reception will be held at The Woman’s Club, 607 Aiken Avenue, Rock Hill, SC 29730.
Connie was born in Kittery Point, Maine on September 12, 1936. She attended McIntosh Business College in Dover, NH, was recruited as a secretary for the CIA, worked in DC and then stationed at the American Embassy in Vienna, Austria, where she and her husband both worked and met. She later worked at the American Embassy in Bonn, Germany, but cut her assignment short to marry her loving husband, Joe Zdenek, in Kittery Point in 1958.
The next 8 years Connie lived in Brookfield, Illinois, raised two boys, worked at the Argonne National Laboratory and took courses at Lyons Township Junior College, LaGrange, IL. After a move to SC, while raising two sons, she started her college education at Winthrop University (then College), completed her B.A. in Psychology and her M.S. in Speech Pathology, graduating cum laude. She then earned a National Certificate of Clinical Competence. Connie worked as a Speech Clinician in the Lancaster School District, as a District Coordinator in Early Education for Speech and Hearing Handicapped in Fort Mill, and then in the RH School system until 1996, when she had to retire ironically because of her own hearing loss. During this time, she also volunteered with the Head Start Program, the Children’s Attention Home, the Speech and Hearing Clinic, and served in various capacities in the SC Hearing and Speech Association. She was also a member of the Woman’s Club and served as its president at one time.
Connie was vivacious and fun loving and was a great dance partner. Her life was filled with living abroad and many travels abroad with her husband Joe and with friends. She enjoyed many travels in the US, skiing with the YMCA group, and much dancing, as a member of several dance clubs.
She leaves behind her husband, Dr. J. Zdenek, professor emeritus at Winthrop, two sons: Mark (wife Pam) of Montgomery, TX, and Gary (wife Diana), of Orange, CA, four grandchildren (Kathleen of CO, husband Owen; Chris of CA, wife Catherine; Michael of TX, wife Chelsea; and Meredith; and two great grandchildren, Emmett and Ada, of Denver, CO.
In lieu of flowers, please consider the Natural Resources Council of Maine, 3 Wade St., Augusta, ME, 04330 (nrcm.org) or Pilgrims’ Inn in RH, P.O. Box 11328, Rock Hill, SC 29731 (pilgrimsinn.org) or any charity of your choice.
Condolences can be made at www.greenefuneralhome.net