Dr. Connie L. Denham

Dr. Connie Lee Woolley Denham, Ed.D.

Connie was a loving, giving, generous woman with a brilliant mind, who was respected and admired by those who knew her. Sometimes referred to as a “force of nature”, Connie’s tireless dedication to teaching, to her students, and to the children that they all serve was an inspiration to her family and colleagues. After a long battle with cancer, fought with her customary grace and determination, Connie passed away at home on March 21, 2015, surrounded by her family.

Connie Lee Woolley was born in Tulare, California on June 10, 1947. She was raised in California, first living in Cressey and then in Selma, where she met and latter married her husband, Richard Denham, on April 15, 1967. Following Richard’s naval deployments, Connie attended college in California before moving to Florida and completing her bachelor’s degree at Florida State University. When Richard left the Navy, they returned to their native California, living in both Chula Vista and Lakewood. After their first daughter, Staci, was born, they yearned for small-town life and a good place to raise children. When Richard graduated from college, they moved to Carson City, Nevada, where they had their second daughter, Heather.

While still raising her daughters, Connie returned to school, earning both her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno. Connie taught early childhood education and human development courses at Western Nevada Community College in Carson City. One of her proudest accomplishments during that time was founding the Family Services Center, a “learning lab” daycare center on campus.

When her husband retired in 2000, they were again seeking a smaller town as Carson City had doubled in size over the preceding 25 years. Moving to Grants Pass to continue her teaching career at Rogue Community College enabled Connie to achieve another longtime goal: a Victorian house with a white picket fence. She and her husband purchased a home originally built in 1910 and spent years restoring it to its current condition.

At RCC, Connie was also thrilled to have another opportunity to plan and implement a learning lab child care center, this time with a supportive administration. She enjoyed the campus community at RCC so much and had endless praise for RCC and its administration and faculty. Connie served as the Department Chair of the Early Childhood & Elementary Education Department at RCC until her health forced her to retire in 2013.

Knowing her retirement would be short, Connie immediately pursued her prior plans to travel. She embarked on a series of adventures both in the United States and abroad, including visiting Graceland, going on historic tours of Boston, staying at a cousin’s quaint bed-and-breakfast in Canada, and fulfilling her lifelong dream of visiting England.

Connie was always a collector. Her first collection was a small group of toy horses when she was a girl, and she loved to recall how she would carefully save every penny until she had enough to purchase her next horse. She eventually moved on to dolls, first advertising dolls, then Barbie dolls, finally settling on porcelain dolls that matched her interest in all things Victorian. She maintained smaller collections of period toys, kitchenware, and Christmas decorations.

Connie is survived by her husband, Richard; her two daughters, Staci and Heather; her sister, Flo; her brother, Van; and numerous in-laws, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Dorothy Edson Woolley Clark, and her father, Donald F. Woolley.

In honor of Connie’s service to RCC and its ECEE students, a scholarship fund has been established in her name. Donations in her memory can be sent to the RCC Foundation at 3345 Redwood Highway, Grants Pass, OR 97527, with “Connie Denham Scholarship Fund” in the memo line.