Obituary
Connie Leigh Shields

Connie Leigh Shields ("Coker") passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Youngsville, NC surrounded by friends and family on April 24, 2024. She was born in Missouri on April 6, 1944. Prior to relocating to North Carolina in 2020 to be closer to her children, Connie lived for 41 years in Gridley, California where she worked as a bartender at the Moose Lodge and Stan's Lounge. She was an extremely talented seamstress and formed and successfully ran her own upholstery business for decades. Connie was an avid sports fan and could often be found rooting on her Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco Giants or the Sacramento Kings. She also loved to fish, hunt, attending concerts, motorcycles, the ocean and spending time with her family. To know Connie was to love her. Her quick wit and beautiful smile were only surpassed by her loving and giving heart. She was a loving mother, daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and friend. She was an angel here on earth and words cannot express how much she will be missed by all those that knew her. Connie is survived by her children, Connitta Hess, Stephen Shewmake and his wife, Barbara, Ryan Coker and his wife, Heidi, and Robbin Coker, her sisters Barbara Dustin and Joyce Mack, her brother Bud Stephens and his wife Calene, her bonus sister and best friend, Paula Cassidy, her grandchildren, Michael Shewmake and his wife Selena, Amanda Gravenstein and her husband Ryan, Marisa Webb, Elyse Bowers, Reanna King, Katelyn (Hess) Lozinski and her husband Dakota, Brielyn Ledford and her husband Gregory, Callie Coker, Bryce Gagnon, Nathan Coker-Andreasen, her great grandchildren, Mikayah, Dax, Aaralynn, Zander, Selene, Piper, Griffin, Daniel, Elizabeth, Nicholas, Christopher, James, Malachie, Gabrielle, Ezra, Elliana, nieces and nephews, Bryan Stewart, Newell Stewart, Deanna Stewart Viger, Delora Stewart Hutchinson and her husband Anthony, Rhonda McKnight, Victoria Geiger and her husband Matthew, Jolene Schwartz, April Loveland and her husband Jim, Beverlee Grey, Melissa Davison and her husband William, Angela Gage, Clem Stephens and his wife Johnna in addition to numerous great nieces and nephews. She also had many bonus children that adopted her as their Mom throughout the years, including, but not limited to, Mickel Robinson and Kelly Rockwell Bott. She leaves this world to be reunited with her husband Nathan Coker, her husband Richard Shields, her mother, Marjorie Scott, her Stepfather, Warren Scott, her daddy, Carnie Stephens, her sister, Euleta Stewart, her son-in-law Matthew Hess, her granddaughter Stephanie Shewmake, and her nephews, Roger Blevins, Jason Hughes and Lincoln Hughes. Connie will be returned to California for an interment of ashes and a celebration of life at a date to be determined by the family.