Obituary of Carolyn Ryan

<b>Online Obituaries for Versailles KY</b> Connie Ryan, nee Carolyn Fern Price, left this life on the morning of 30 June 2015 at Thomson Hood Veterans Center. Her quiet departure stood in stark contrast to the vibrant life lived by such an exceptional woman. She was a week away from her 95th birthday on 7 July, which will serve as the date of her funeral service. The youngest of five children born to Grover and Etta Earl Price of Peaks Mill, Kentucky, Connie lost her mother at 11. She helped her father while he renovated Olympia Springs to help the family make ends meet, and it was not unusual for neighbors to see her running errands in the family truck at age 14. She only wrecked the vehicle once. She enjoyed the company of three of her siblings, Pete Price, Robert Price and Gladys White, into adulthood, but lost her brother Charles to a swimming accident in the Elkhorn Creek in childhood. A challenging youth filled with loss did not diminish her immense ability to love and be loved throughout the rest of her years. At 21, she was finishing her education at the Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Lexington, when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor set her life on a new course. After completing her degree, she entered the Army Nurse Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant and began training at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. In 1943, she eagerly signed up for an overseas assignment. Part of Third General Hospital out of Ft. Rucker, Alabama, Connie sailed on the Louis Pasteur, a French luxury cruise ship turned military transport, to Casablanca, Morocco. Following the battles, they moved onto Tunis for the next ten months. In May of 1944, Connie and Third General relocated to Italy to serve as an evacuation hospital caring for casualties of the French Colonial Forces. Her experience caring for US and Allied troops transitioned to more medical aid of Senegalese and Cameroon's Fighting Legionnaires. In August of that year, they transferred their patients and headed to Aix en Provence, France for the following years. It was during those more peaceful years in France, when Connie nursed 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy back to health and saw WWII come to an end. And, although young Audie was taken with her, she simply attributed it to Florence Nightingale syndrome. In September of 1945, she returned with her unit to parades and cheers back on U.S. soil. Third General Hospital continued reunions for 40 years after their return. In 1946, Connie met her life-long love, Clarence Andrew (Andy) Ryan while on RR in Ft. Knox. In her soulmate, she found a fellow world traveler and culinary enthusiast. They moved to Germany during the Occupation, while Andy was still a Military Intelligence Officer in the Army. As they began having children, Connie redirected her energy into motherhood, embracing German culture, and creating life-long friendships. After Andy left the Army he joined McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company, but they remained in Germany for a total of 30 years. Connie never lost her deep-rooted love for Kentucky and in 1984, she and Andy moved to Versailles to establish their home. For her last three decades, Connie was the loving adhesive that kept her family tightly knit through the generations and across the distances. On the beach or by the Christmas tree, she was surrounded by her loving Kentucky, they welcomed friends from all over the world to the beauty of the Bluegrass. Her legacy lives on in her surviving four children Tom (Diana) Ryan, Carol (Steve) Duffy, Rachel (Paul) White and Becky (Jim) Booth, 11 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, with another on the way. Her love of family, good food and cooking, social gatherings and site seeing are remembered. Her impact was never heavy handed, but it proved undeniable with two granddaughters in the medical profession; two grandchildren in the military; several children and grandchildren who have lived in Austria, Australia, Germany, Canada, Peru and Japan for years at a time; and numerous loving mothers and fathers that parent in the graceful manner they were reared. children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She and Andy continued to travel in their 80s to see family and friends in Germany and wherever their children were. In <b>Funeral Information</b> Connie will be buried at the family plot in Peaks Mill beside Andy and among numerous relatives on July 7, 2015 at 1 pm. Visitation is at Clark Funeral Home in Versailles, Kentucky on July 6 from 5 pm to 7 pm.