{"id":44238,"date":"2026-08-13T15:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=44238"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T20:25:48","slug":"james-charles-jim-connell-70-of-fairview-heights-formerly-of-strasburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/44238-james-charles-jim-connell-70-of-fairview-heights-formerly-of-strasburg\/","title":{"rendered":"James Charles &#8220;Jim&#8221; Connell (70) of Fairview Heights, formerly of Strasburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James &#8220;Jim&#8221; Charles Connell, age 70, passed away on August 6, 2026, in Fairview Heights, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Born on December 11, 1955, in St. Louis, Missouri, Jim was a beloved father, grandfather, and friend who shared his kindness and Irish spirit with all those around him. Jim lived for more than 35 years in the village of Strasburg, serving at various times on the village board and as its Mayor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u200bJames was preceded in death by his father, Robert Connell, and his mother, Patricia Connell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u200bHe is survived by his sons and their families: James (Emily) Connell, Samuel (Martina) Connell, and Robert (Deborah) Connell; as well as his seven cherished grandchildren, who brought endless joy and pride to his life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u200bIn accordance with his wishes, no memorial service will be held. He will be interred at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James &#8220;Jim&#8221; Charles Connell, age 70, passed away on August 6, 2026, in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Born on December 11, 1955, in St. Louis, Missouri, Jim was a beloved father, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":44239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>James Charles &quot;Jim&quot; Connell (70) of Fairview Heights, formerly of Strasburg - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/44238-james-charles-jim-connell-70-of-fairview-heights-formerly-of-strasburg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Charles &quot;Jim&quot; 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