Obituary: HEATHER JANE CONLIN
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Heather Jane Conlin (née Dutton), age 68, passed away on September 17, 2024, at Gibson House Hospice in Reidsville, North Carolina after an exacerbation of congestive heart failure.
Heather was born on January 8, 1956 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. She grew up around Southeast Pennsylvania reading voraciously and learning to sail in regattas with her brothers Roger and Michael under the tutelage of their father Albert Dutton, who Heather adored. In 1973, Heather graduated from Kennett High School. Seeking a more cosmopolitan experience, Heather moved to New York City and married Kenneth Levine in 1975, when she worked as a secretary on Wall Street. The newlyweds lived in Staten Island and Manhattan, and started a family with the arrival of Heather’s first daughter, Elizabeth Sara Levine in 1977. Although their marriage ended, Heather stayed in touch with Kenny over the years and they remained friends.
Heather viewed motherhood as her primary calling in life and her priorities reoriented around family. She studied nursing and relocated to Wilmington, Delaware to raise Liz and work as a registered nurse. There she met her second husband, Michael Patrick Conlin, and they were married in 1989. They welcomed two children, Michael Jr. in 1991 and Kelsea in 1994, and raised their family in Walkertown, North Carolina. Heather loved to cook and her dining room table was the center of the home. Heather frequently brought her children to visit her parents who had retired to Kilmarnock, Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay, where many unforgettable family memories were made. Friends and family remember Heather as a wonderful and emotionally intelligent conversationalist on the phone and in person.
Heather took tremendous pride in her children as they completed school, struck out on their own, got married, and started families. Heather and her family showed great resilience as circumstances led to the end of her second marriage and she relocated multiple times, most notably to Southport, North Carolina and then to Lexington, North Carolina. In 2022, Heather welcomed her first grandchild, Brian Michael Conlin, to whom she was a devoted and generous Grammy. Heather spent her final weeks in the care of her loving family.
Heather was the daughter of the late Albert Carrol Dutton and Mary Jane Dutton.
She is survived by her beloved children, Elizabeth Sara Levine, Michael Patrick Conlin, Jr. (wife Emma Sternlof), and Kelsea Jane Hoth (husband Jeffrey Hoth); her siblings Roger Dutton (wife Donna Dutton) and Michael Dutton; and her grandson Brian Michael Conlin.
The family is planning a private celebration of life in Spring 2025 with details forthcoming.
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