Vella Cloe Redwine Connally of Round Rock, Texas passed away surrounded by family in the first hours of 2025 due to complications from a broken hip and COPD. She lived 87 full, wonderful years.
The youngest daughter of Johnny E. and Sarah Ruth (nee Winstead) Redwine, Vella was born on March 25, 1937, in White Flat, Texas in Motley County. She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings, Helen Redwine Kelley, Stanley Redwine, and Betty Joy Redwine LaDu.
She moved to Midland in the early 1950s and graduated from Midland High School. She also attended Odessa College. Vella was married to Herschel Joseph Connally for 18 years. They moved to Odessa, Texas in the mid 1960s. All her life Vella was active in politics and volunteering. She went to work in the banking industry and ended her career in nonprofit as Executive Director of the Permian Basin Regional Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Vella was a passionate Longhorn football fan. Wherever she lived, she planted flowers and tended them. She loved her family deeply, especially her grandchildren. She believed that love was an action word, not something you simply said.
She is survived by her daughter, Katie Anderson and son-in-law, Stephen Kerr of Round Rock, her daughter, Jennifer Pou, and son-in-law, Anthony Pou of Georgetown, grandchildren, Aaron Anderson, Kayla Anderson, David Sibson, Scott Sibson, Taylor Anderson, Morgan Pou and Callan Pou, and two great grandchildren, Benjamin Anderson, and Dorothy Sibson. A celebration of life service will be held later in the spring.