RIP Connie Tobia

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Off White

climber

Tenino, WA

Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 30, 2011 - 12:21pm PT

Some of you folks (Tarbuster, Watusi, Russ, BVB, et al) will remember Connie Tobia (Sussman) from Washington & California in the 80's. I heard last night that she died from liver failure about a week and a half ago in Florida. Details are scant and not cheery. She's survived by her 20 year old son and an 11 year old daughter who lives with the father.

A second hand report from the sparsely attended funeral says her son was shocked to see an old picture of his mom climbing in the Bugaboos, he had no idea that she had ever done such a thing.

I haven't talked to Connie in a couple decades, but oddly enough just last weekend I was doing a little internet research with the assistance of my wife Faith (reference librarian extraordinaire) trying to track her down. A day late & a dollar short I guess. Just about a year ago I had a reunion dinner of sorts in Flagstaff with Phil Pearl & Les "Hound Dog" Hutchison, a couple of Connie's other ex boyfriends.

Anyway, this seemed as good a place as any to share the sad news with others who will remember Connie's better days. Her friend Roxanne said she thought the years living in the west and within the climbing community was the happiest period of her life.

klk

Trad climber

cali

Mar 30, 2011 - 12:25pm PT

wow, really sorry to hear that.

Off White

climber

Tenino, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2011 - 07:28pm PT

Connie following Ephemeral Clogdance (I think) on the Apron circa 1981. Looks to be a certain level of anxiety after unclipping from the last bolt...

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Mar 30, 2011 - 07:31pm PT

isn't that the "there are no hand holds or foot holds" look

scuffy b

climber

dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene

Mar 30, 2011 - 08:37pm PT

Sorry, Off.
Damn Human Condition gets pretty challenging sometimes.

Anastasia

climber

hanging from an ice pic and missing my mama.

Mar 30, 2011 - 08:42pm PT

My condolences...

Bad Climber

climber

Mar 30, 2011 - 08:47pm PT

Sad news. At times like this, I think about the character in Vonnegut's novel who's "unstuck in time." She may be gone now, but at another moment--just not this moment--she's setting off for the Bugaboos or finally getting to the belay after that sketchy slab, a huge grin of victory and relief spreading across that pretty face.

BAd

bluering

Trad climber

Santa Clara, CA

Mar 30, 2011 - 08:50pm PT

That last pic is priceless...

Rest in peace.

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

mammoth lakes ca

Mar 30, 2011 - 10:19pm PT

Sorry to hear this..I think i met this pretty lady back in 82 at Tamarack Lodge... tarbuster was around at this short period of time as was dennis miller..I remember Connie having a deep voice...rj

can't say

Social climber

Pasadena CA

Mar 30, 2011 - 10:46pm PT

I remember Connie, wow, very sad to hear. Condolences to friends and family

SteveW

Trad climber

The state of confusion

Mar 30, 2011 - 11:26pm PT

My condolences to her family and friends.
Rest in Peace, Connie.

Russ Walling

Gym climber

Poofter's Froth, Wyoming

Mar 30, 2011 - 11:52pm PT

Sad ending to a cool gal.... RIP and say hi to the "Weeeen-us" for me!

Edit: Here is a pic, probably taken by the Weeenus, stolen from the Tarbuster archives. Connie, Roy, Russ, Watusi and Dimitri at Glacier Point, 1982?

johntp

Trad climber

socal

Mar 31, 2011 - 12:05am PT

oh man. would that we could change the tides of time. condolences to her children, friends and family.

salad

climber

Escondido

Mar 31, 2011 - 12:10am PT

sorry to hear this ow. condolences. the train station picture is like a story waiting to be told.

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Mar 31, 2011 - 02:11am PT

A smart women, sometimes austere in personality, inwardly sensitive, given to a slow and grounded warmth, graced with a sheer and stunning natural beauty, as yet unseen but beginning to come through in those few pictures, … she flowered in the NW; originally from New Jersey I recall, maybe a trace of American Indian in her blood.

Connie displayed fairly significant natural talent as a climber, with a stoic calm, an underlying fire and a long limbed, somewhat languid and deliberate comportment as she moved over the stone.

There was a patch of tough family experience which gave her outlook some pause; this relaxed when she knew she was in her zone, which she did know for a time, as many of us have been so lucky to find out there amongst the crags, trees, sun, shade and flowing water.

We climbed in Joshua Tree, Yosemite & Red Rocks. On the follow, she floated the second pitch of Levitation 29: a memorable performance by her and an unforgettable experience to watch Connie intuitively stem, heel hook, and alternately braid and unfold her body over those steep sections to get onto the headwall.

On Owl Roof Bypass, you get right up under the Roof, which affords an aerie set with a feeling of solitude and unique position over the river. She was keen to stand, gaze and linger just a little more than most. There was hunger for serenity, along with a silent command within her for soaking it up when she felt it approach.

Occasionally, we wouldn’t complete climbs by topping out, attaining, then clinging to the heights. Not that we retreated necessarily; although we’d go down, more so, Connie would have achieved a certain tranquility through action and felt the ringing of balance echoing from deep inside. She didn’t climb for conquest. She climbed to inhabit a space and cultivate a feeling. At that point she’d pause, absorb, and sense and savor completion. It might as easily have happened just walking amongst the wild Juniper.

She could ice climb too. We climbed Gilbert Gully roped and moving together; I recall Connie turning out in well chosen Technica ice boots, dark pin striped wool trousers, wearing a black scarf across her forehead and lightly gripping a bamboo Piolet between slender fingers. A beautiful woman ... in style in the mountains, at home in the mountains... and at peace in the mountains.

Does Jane Sievert know? BVB? I have lost contact with Jane.
We would always talk about the whereabouts of Connie Tobia.

There may be some pictures of Connie from Badyrka’s wedding in the Shawn Curtis archives.

Thanks for sharing the photos Doug.
My sincere condolences to all who knew her.

Farewell, Connie.

Fletcher

Trad climber

from the place of breath

Mar 31, 2011 - 02:41am PT

There is something very poignant and touching about Connie (I did not know her until this thread). I'm so sorry to hear she is gone. Peace and love to those she connected with in this world.

Eric

Truthdweller

Trad climber

San Diego, CA

Mar 31, 2011 - 02:47am PT

Deaths keep piling up on the taco (shaking his head), from liver failure at that, and at such a young age, red flag, red flag, red flag!

Makes me sad, sorry to hear about it.

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Mar 31, 2011 - 02:58am PT

hey there say, off white... thank you for the share of a past-climber here...

if time did not seperate folks lives, as time does, i know many of you would have been there and the funeral would not have been so empty...

thank you for sharing about connie...

also, russ, thanks for the very nice olden day picture of her and the group she felt so well with ...

my condolences to her family and loved ones...

god blesss...