Click Music Note to hear "Wind Beneath My Wings"

There is a really nice picture towards the bottom of page, please enjoy.
This is a little history of my family and a short bio of our life. I may change this over time. A link to a short story about his illness is below.

This is Willis "Butch" Conley, Jr. The football helmet mailbox was his idea and he applied for the patent. The patent was issued in 1996.

Butch was raised on a farm in Mt. Sterling, Ohio and graduated from Westfall High School in 1966. He then worked in construction for George J. Igel Company from 1971 through 1984 operating a 975 Bobcat/backhoe. His first marriage ended after a few months and in 1978 he married Debbie Smith Musick. They were married until his death in 1996.
Butch had fought cancer since 1981. First colo-rectal, which recurred in 1981 and 1990. Then laryngeal cancer in 1995 and again in 1996. Butch fought diligently against this terrible disease, but lost his battle on October 10, 1996. He is survived by his wife, two sons, step-daughter, grandson and son-in-law.
This addition is to truly Thank his co-workers at George J. Igel Company in Columbus Ohio for their 6 month, ongoing donation of an hour's pay each week to us so we could keep up with bills and keep the home we had just purchased, and their emotional support. These were truly "friends" and a godsend to us for those hard six months of recovery. (from the first surgery in 1981) God Bless Everyone of You!!!
Butch was 48 years old and would have been 49 on November 6, 1996. His work was in construction - he owned his own business. He was a member of Ohio Operating Engineers Local 18, from 1971 until his death in 1996. His expertise was on the Bobcat 975 and 980 he owned both, click on pictures for larger version. The M-70 is an older (1970) version of the 975 with the backhoe attachment. We had two backhoe attachments, forks, augers, trencher and various buckets. This equipment was made by Melroe. Visit their site for the entire story. I told him that I wanted to take him to the Grand Canyon, because he would never be able to dig a hole that big! He would laugh. I was told by the people who knew him that he was the absolute best Bobcat operator around. He never took a vacation and loved tinkering around in his garage. Our home was truly our castle and we enjoyed it, each other and our children. We also enjoyed our 5 dogs, even though Butch would make people think that he didn't like them, when nobody was watching, he would make over them ridiculously! He just wanted people to think he was tough, but the children and I knew better.

Believe it or not, we enjoyed working in the yard in the spring and summer, sitting on the front porch (drinking tea and talking to the neighbors), sitting in the garage until 4:30 in the morning with some of our neighbors waiting on mailbox bashers (that is why we made these mailboxes so sturdy!), even sitting on the back of the pick-up truck in his 30 x 30 building trying to dodge the huge bugs that would dive bomb us - we would finally go in when the bugs came to the lights in flocks! (usually around midnight) or we would go back to the front porch.

Our rays of sunshine are our children and our 2 year old grandson, JACOB!!! He is a trip, there is a picture below.

I will be adding to and changing this page over time. Any suggestions, let me know!

Hopefully, we will succeed with the sports mailboxes, a portion of the proceeds from these mailboxes will go to the  Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute.

See the killer whale?

Click on picture for Whale and Saving the Whales sites!
MY TIME WITH MY HUSBAND - Talking about caregiving.
Our Friend Albert "Doc" Troxel

Love each other and be thankful for your and your children's health and happiness. Don't take each other for granted.
My friend's son and a friend of my son -
Justice for
Mike Hiles!

Beanie Babies
Fan-Atic All-Sports Products, Ltd. Main Web Page

Fan-Atic Index

Click on picture of our grandson Jacob for some family pictures!

Our dogs, click on Rommel

The author is a member of

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