Frances "Earlene" (Wheeler) Connell

Frances "Earlene" (Wheeler) Connell of Abilene, Tx. passed away peacefully at her home on Friday. October 17, 2025.

Visitation will be 2:00pm to 4:00pm on Sunday, October 26, 2025, at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Rd., Abilene TX.

Funeral service will be held at 11:30am on Monday, October 27, 2025, at The Hamil Family Funeral Home with Bobby Towell of South Side Baptist Church, officiating.

Burial will follow at Texas State Veterans Cemetery, 7457 W. Lake Road, Abilene, TX.

Earlene was born to Earl Edward Wheeler and Minnie "Frances" (Yates) Wheeler on June 14, 1936, in Lanett, Alabama.

She graduated from Valley High School. Earlene married Donald Edward Connell on December 19, 1954, in Lanett, AL.

She loved bowling with her husband, Don, which was just as much as being with friends as it was about the game.

Being married to a U.S. Navy SeaBee, she got to travel extensively.

No matter where she was, she meticulously maintained a place where all the people she loved and cared could gather. Earlene enjoyed cooking and loved sharing the great food she prepared with friends and family.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband of almost 67 years, Donald Connell; her daughter, Donna (Connell) Robinson and her sister, Mary "Patricia" Wheeler.

Earlene is survived by her son David Connell and wife, Cheryl; son in law, Gary Robinson; her sister, Charlotte Wheeler; her niece, Samantha Herlth and husband, Chuck and all those who knew her as Grandmother, Dylan, Becky, Daniel, Douglas, Shalui, Chris, Eli, Eiley and Tristan.

Memories may be shared, and condolences submitted online at www.HamilFamilyFuneralHome.com