Constance Elizabeth Coyle Perkins

Constance (Connie) Elizabeth Coyle Perkins, age 74, passed away on Saturday, August 12, 2023, surrounded by her loving family.  Connie was born on December 19, 1948, the third of eight children of the late Maurice and Cecelia (Endres) Coyle.  Connie, a 32-year survivor of ovarian cancer, fought the ravages of pancreatic cancer and chemotherapy for the past year with tenacity and grace.

Connie married Vince Perkins on May 31, 1969, at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Pine Bluff, Wisconsin.   Words cannot describe the joy and gratitude they felt when welcoming their children, Matthew John and Anne Elizabeth, into their lives.  They were blessed again with the birth of their grandson, Liam.  Connie loved walking through rain puddles, making dozens of cookies, and building snowmen, all with the help of those two little hands. 

Early in their marriage Connie and Vince shared the project of removing all the paint and varnish, inside and out, of their first house.  They shared an appreciation of antique furniture and together refurbished several pieces they acquired while traveling in and out of the state hunting for antiques.  Connie enjoyed world-wide travel with Vince but said nothing measured up to the beauty and serenity of the U.S. national parks and those of the Canadian Rockies.  Connie had a vast knowledge of movies from the 1930-40 era, enjoyed Broadway plays at the Overture with friends, reading, working cross word puzzles, history, and spending countless hours maintaining and nurturing her perennial flower beds.  She was proud of, and intrigued by, her Irish heritage and enjoyed learning about her early ancestors.  She was an active member of the Midvale Community Lutheran Church.

She had fond memories of growing up on the Coyle farm on “Camel Hill Road” with her siblings.  She reminisced about going to “get the cows home”, picking up stones, unloading hay, putting the milking machines together, going with dad to spread freshly cut corn stalks for the cows, helping to corral the pigs and cows when they “got out”, making leaf houses, in summer looking for turtles at the pond and skating there in the winter.  She talked about the visits to the farm from Dad’s eclectic Irish relatives and other acquaintances.  In later years, Connie treasured the “sister lunches” which were filled with laughter of these memories. 

Connie is survived by her husband, Vince; son Matthew (Phoenix, Arizona), daughter Anne and grandson, Liam; siblings Barbara (George) Pulvermacher, John (Marion), Maureen (Ron) Schwarz, Jennifer (Arnie) Breunig, Joyce (Randall) Simon, Bill, Mike (Jill); 13 nieces and nephews and brother-in-law Roger Perkins (Sandra Stephens).  She was preceded in death by her parents, nephew Mark Pulvermacher, his daughter, Skylar Rae, and sister-in-law Barbara Lowell Perkins. 

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 17, 2023, at Midvale Lutheran Community Church, 4329 Tokay Boulevard, Madison.  A visitation will be held Wednesday from 4 until 6 p.m. at the Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road, Madison and at church on Thursday from 10 a.m. until the time of service.  A luncheon will follow the funeral service at the church. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Salvation Army https://centralusa.salvationarmy.org/danecounty/, Dane County Ice Age Trail Alliance https://www.iceagetrail.org/donate/ or Midvale Lutheran Community Church https://www.midvalelutheran.org/.

“We toiled, we fought, we cried, we laughed, we loved.”

Please share your memories of Connie here on her Tribute Wall.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service

3610 Speedway Road Madison

(608) 238-3434