Connie Weeks, a longtime resident of Eliot, Maine, died April 14, 2020, in Scarborough, Maine.
Connie was born and raised in Norwalk, CT. Her parents, Charles and Donna (Folant) Guarnaccia, kindled Connie’s lifelong fascination with the natural world, botany, and gardening, as well as her dedication to civic involvement, the English language, history, and reading.
She was involved with Girl Scouts and had an early job teaching swimming lesson. She loved to hear her father sing opera while he raked leaves. Connie studied ballet as a girl and later would take the train into New York City to dance to live jazz; music and dance held importance to her throughout her life. She graduated from Antioch College in 1954 and married George “Rocky” Norris, with whom she had two daughters, Joanna Bombadil (Vermont) and Christina Norris (Nebraska). She received a Master’s Degree in Education from AIC in Massachusetts, and taught fourth and fifth grades for 15 years. As a teacher, she had a special interest in hands-on learning, conducting experiments at local ponds, and later bringing students on field trips to her farm.
In 1975 she married Silas B. Weeks in Dover, NH. Connie and Silas dedicated much of their time and attention to Back Fields Farm in Eliot, where they lived for 46 years. Connie loved the independence of running a market garden business, selling bouquets to local businesses, harvesting honey, making corn meal and soap, growing and processing flowers and vegetables, raising hens and sheep, and sugaring. Early mornings found her at her loom weaving, engaged in her love of color, texture and craft.
Connie was a lifelong Democrat and an inveterate letter writer to elected officials. She was a Conservation Commission member and a passionate advocate for causes she believed in. She and Silas helped start the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market and the Great Works Regional Land Trust, which held covenants on their farm.
Connie became a member of Dover Friends Meeting, which provided a central community in her Maine years. She loved gatherings, and hosted local Democrats, Friends Meeting, and family gatherings on a regular basis. She took many trips to Europe and across the US to hear favorite opera singers, and traveled with Silas with a focus on history, architecture, and crafts; but the Farm, music, community, and feeding the birds were her anchors.
She leaves her daughters, her sister Carla Magoun, grandchildren Rowen and Asa Gorman, and family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues across the country and around the world. A memorial meeting will be held at Dover (NH) Friends Meeting when virus restrictions are lifted. Memorial contributions can be made to Great Works Regional Land Trust or to Dover Friends Meeting.