McConnell, Clara Virginia Austin

Clara Virginia Austin McConnell, 93, of Pulaski, Va., died Tuesday, May 25, 2010, in Pulaski Health and Rehabilitation Center. She was born November 10, 1916, in Wythe County, and was the daughter of the late Elizabeth Surratt Austin and Charles Orville Austin. She retired from the Department of Health and Human Services in the bookkeeping department. After retirement in 1981, she moved from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area to Roanoke. She was a Veteran of the Women’s Army Corps of the United States Army serving in World War II, was a member of the American Legion Cissel Saxon Post #41 in Silver Spring, Md., and served on the committee for the implementation and design for the Vietnam War Memorial. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Ford Franklin McConnell, four brothers, Joseph Warren Austin, Earl Lester Austin, Herbert Wayne Austin, Fred S. Austin, and a sister, Dorcas A. Roseberry. She is survived by a brother, Ray Rudolph Austin and his wife, Betty, of Martinsville; two nieces, Jan Roseberry Butcher and her husband, Jeff of, Stephens City, and Mary Jane Gardiner, of Christiansburg; two grandnephews, James Bennett Butcher, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Donald Todd Duncan, of Christiansburg; one grandniece, Laura Elizabeth Butcher, of Stephens City. She is also survived by her beloved cat, Kitty Boo. Funeral services will be held Friday, May 28, 2010, at 11 a.m. at Seagle Funeral Home with the Rev. Randy Winn officiating. Interment will follow in Highland Memory Gardens where the V.F.W. Post 1184 will conduct military honors. The family will receive friends Friday morning at the funeral home from 10 until 11 a.m. service time. Flowers will be appreciated, but for those who wish, they may make memorial contributions in her memory to the V.F.W. Post 1184, P.O. Box 2005 Pulaski, Va. 24301, or to the A.S.P.C.A. 424 E. 92nd St. New York, New York 10128. Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.seaglefuneralhome.com Arrangements by Seagle Funeral Home, Pulaski.