Week 1 2026 - An Ancestor I Admire - Daly/Conner

I thought long and hard about this topic. There are many of my ancestors who survived catastrophic events or hardships and yet overcame so much. But here's a more recent event and a person I appreciate and respect.

Doris Daly and Ken Conner met in High School in Lapeer, Michigan. At the age of 17, Doris quit school and she and Kenny married on October 27, 1951, in Imlay City, Michigan. Ken worked for his father-in-law building bridges and overpasses in Michigan. He would do anything to pay the bills and to save to fly. His goal was to be a pilot. Their first son was born in 1952 and their second son in 1953. In the meantime, Doris went back to school and got her GED. 


Ken always loved the lure of the sky.  Ben Scott taught him how to fly.  He flew a Taylor Craft L2 in those early years. He worked on airplanes like others worked on cars.  There were a bunch of men that flew together:  Norm Burley, 'Doc' Wilcox, George Conner (brother), Dick Quick, John Miller and Jim Bochef.  

Kenny started as a crop duster and flew in Beaverdam, Wisconsin from April 1952 - August 1952. And then again in Hartsville, North Carolina for one month during the summer of 1954.  He went to Texas in 1955 to get his Instrument rating.  He also worked for Trot Brothers in Almont flying passengers around the state for extra flying time.  He started with North Central Airlines in September 1955.  He made the rating of Captain in 1957 - at that time the youngest Captain in the history of North Central.

First Officer Ken Conner standing by a DC-3

They moved to Ann Arbor for a couple of years and then purchased a building lot next door to Doris's parents at Barnes Lake, Columbiaville, Lapeer County, Michigan. There with the help of Kenny's brother George and Doris's father Ken Daly and her brother Joe Daly they build a small two-bedroom cottage that would be their home. 

On February 13, 1960, after taking his wife and two sons to Willow Run, Michigan in his Cessna 170 to catch a commercial flight to Florida, he returned to Barnes Lake, Columbiaville, Michigan.  The following morning, (Valentine's Day) he left with his parents (George & Lena Conner) and his brother-in-law (Joe Daly) to travel to Florida to meet up with his family for a vacation.  After a quick fly-by over the lake, they headed south.  A short time later the plane crashed in the town of Clarkston, Michigan.  All aboard were killed.

Doris learned of the accident via a phone call. Instantly, her life was changed. She lost her husband, her in laws and her brother that fateful morning. At the age of 26, she had to hold it together. Help her young sons, her brother-in-law who overnight became an orphan, and her parents who lost a child.

The next couple of years were a blur as she worked and raised her children. In 1962, Doris and their two sons moved to Auburn, Michigan so she could go to work for North Central Airlines.  In November 1964 she switched airlines and went to work for United Airlines.  Feeling that she needed to prove to herself (and to Kenny) that she could accept the consequences, Doris took flying lessons.  After soloing, she continued to fly for a time but eventually stopped.

Doris retired from United Airlines after 29 years. She spent her whole career at MBS International Airport. She and the boys traveled extensively over the years. She made sure that her boys enjoyed flying as much as their dad had.

I married the youngest son. Who holds doors for me, makes sure I walk on the inside of the sidewalk, always has a hankie in his pocket, is loving and giving and kind. The tragedy that day could have broken my mother-in-law, but instead she raised herself and her boys up to a standard that all of us can admire.

Barbie

The NTSB report showed that the accident happened due to weather / unexpected ice storm.

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