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Obituary

Bar manager took care of business, family

WILLIE JAMES CONNER SR.: 1940-2005. The Broadway Bar in Ybor City was a place where everybody knew your name, and Willie James Conner Sr. kept it that way.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published April 1, 2005

SOUTHEAST SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Willie James Conner Sr. spent most his time in an Ybor City bar. But he was the ultimate family man.

Mr. Conner was the longtime manager of the Broadway Bar on Seventh Avenue. He died of lung cancer Wednesday (March 16, 2005) at age 65.

The Broadway Bar isn't a typical, raucous Ybor City drinking establishment. It's a quiet, neighborhood place; the clientele is mostly retirees and regulars.

"It's the kind of place where everybody knows everybody, and everybody likes everybody," said Ola Conner, Mr. Conner's wife. "It's the same people every day."

Mr. Conner was a fixture at the bar for the past 17 years. He worked long hours but never let his work take time away from his family. In fact, two of his six children worked at the bar, and his wife was his assistant manager. When he retired last year, she became manager.

The Broadway was the last of several Tampa bars that Mr. Conner owned or managed over the past 30 years. He was a sociable man who would share camaraderie and conversation with his customers but never cocktails. He was a hard worker whose main goal was to look out for his family, and he always treated the bar as his place of business.

Mr. Conner was born in Alabama and came to Tampa when he was a teenager. He lived with his older brother, Aaron, in a rooming house in Ybor.

Another resident of the boarding house was Ola, the niece of the owner. Mr. Conner and Ola fell in love and married a year later. He was just 17. She was 14.

"We stayed living in the rooming house because my aunt owned it, but we moved into our own room," Mrs. Conner said. "It was like any marriage, it had its up and downs and we had to work at it sometimes, but we were married for 47 years. I took my marriage vows seriously."

The couple started having children when they were teenagers. Being such young parents actually helped them be closer to their children, Mrs. Conner said.

"I kind of grew up with them," she said.

Although he wasn't a drinker, Mr. Conner gravitated toward businesses that dealt in beer, wine and liquor, working for breweries and liquor distributors before getting into the bar business. He then owned a series of bars, including My Place near Robles Park, Lil Brother's on Morgan Street and Bop City in Ybor.

When he wasn't working, he spent a lot of his spare time fishing off a bridge on Davis Islands. Fishing was his hobby, but he found a way to turn a profit from it. He'd sell fresh fish sandwiches at his bars, and he and his wife would drive through Tampa neighborhoods selling his catch out of their car.

"He was a good father and a very good provider," said his daughter Vickie Conner. "He was always there any time his children needed anything, or his grandchildren."

The family remained remarkably close. Two of the six children live within a block of their mother in Southeast Seminole Heights, and another lives a couple of blocks away.

A longtime smoker, Mr. Conner quit several years ago but was diagnosed with lung cancer in September and his health steadily declined.

Mr. Conner is survived by his wife; six children; 23 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; one brother; and one sister.

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 08:53:03]