In eighty years of hard living, Bill Conn, the founder and owner of Conn's Taxidermy Artworks, defied death on too many occasions to count. As a child, he survived polio and a high-speed motor-scooter crash while fleeing the police. As an adult, he lived through car wrecks, boat sinkings, a thousand knife cuts, several attacks by wild animals (including a crazed turkey), and an arsonist's firebombing of his home which left him with third-degree burns and painful scars.

Throughout those years, he smoked like a BBQ grill on Memorial Day and continually exposed himself on the job to industrial chemicals that surely killed lesser, younger men. It was a quirky, risk-filled, unconventional life. But on May 15, 2023, it ended conventionally, the inevitable result of too much cancer and too little immunity.

William Conn, Jr. was born on April 25, 1943, in New Orleans and grew up a block off Audubon Park, where he developed a lifelong love of nature. As a child, he took an interest in taxidermy that later led to an apprenticeship at the LSU Natural Museum of Science. After trying traditional jobs (copy machine repair, bank loan officer), in his late twenties Bill turned his childhood passion into a profession with the opening of his own taxidermy shop in McComb. Conn's Taxidermy Artworks (tagline: "You can't do better for your buck") thrived in the 1970s and 80s, earning Bill numerous state, national and international awards for his work, which ranged from fish, deer, ducks and turkey to more exotic African wildlife. And to goofy curios like jackalopes, raccoons playing cards, beer cans ("1 Millionth Killed") and even an ex-hippie's ponytail ("RIP Good Times").

Bill was also a renowned hunter. He loved all of God's creatures -- so much so, it seems, that he endeavored to kill and preserve at least one of each of them, often with a bow and arrow. He was also a competent fisherman, although in his later years many people say that he lost his edge to his son, an amateur obituary writer.

Bill never regretted his decision to pursue taxidermy, despite its financial volatility. To make ends meet, he took on other jobs including as a McComb fireman and a compound bow salesman. Bill was clever and relentless in his pursuit of bargains. He openly advocated for a return to a barter economy. One time in the 1970s he reportedly left his house in the morning with an old shotgun, spent all day trading up, and arrived home that night in a new pickup truck. He was a connoisseur of the classifieds, willing to drive several states over to capture the price arbitrage on a nice boat trailer or an undervalued collection of arrowheads. Bill also rarely missed a loophole. Certain taxes may or may not have been paid. He once borrowed a car dealer's van for a weekend test drive … and took it to Virginia and back.

In addition to collecting guns, knives, and Native American artifacts, Bill was married four times to three women, each a patient saint who, even he admitted, were deserving of profound sympathy. (The second and third time was to the same bride, who he said was "so nice he married her twice.") Over the years, he also cared for countless pets, ranging from faithful mutts (Pookie, Weedle) to a mule deer (Sancho) and a squirrel (Rocky), to many nameless, faceless others -- including rabbits, snakes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, a horned toad and (briefly, because it was illegal) an injured great horned owl.

After receiving a terminal diagnosis earlier this year, Bill's often irascible and impatient nature noticeably softened. There were scattered reports of unsolicited compliments and periodic earnest expressions of gratitude. His last months were a lesson for us all – that it is never too late to appreciate and enjoy the love of others in our lives.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William Conn, Sr. and Thelma Pitts Conn. He is survived by his brother Dickey Conn (Sheila), his half-sister Linda Conn Peoples (Darwin), his daughter Lady Archer, his son Lance Conn, and four grandchildren, Sasha Archer, Wilson Conn, Oliver Conn and Charlie Conn, along many other family and friends.

A graveside service will be held Friday, May 19,2023, beginning at 10AM at Whittington Cemetery in Summit, MS with Mr. Blake Stephens officiating. Sharkey Funeral Home will oversee the arrangements.

The family requests memorials be made in his name to the Mississippi Wildlife Federation. To share condolences please visit www.sharkeyfuneralhome.com.