Connie Elizabeth (Bjarno) Testa

Connie Elizabeth Bjarno Testa, born January 30, 1935, passed away on July 22, 2025 surrounded by her loving family. 

Connie was born in Copenhagen, Denmark into a close-knit extended family, including her father Ejgil, mother Ella and two sisters, Birgit and Henny. They lived through World War II and Connie had many happy memories of life in Denmark both before and after the war.  She came to America in 1949 and lived with her family in New Haven, Connecticut.

Connie met her husband Frank when he saw her crossing the farm field adjacent to her home and whistled at her to get her attention.  Connie and Frank had three children, James, Katherine and Theresa, and were married for over 50 years, until Frank died in 2005.

Before marrying Frank, Connie obtained her hairdressing license and went on to style hair for many years.  She was always perfectly coifed, with never a hair out of place and her two girls suffered through many a curly perm at her hands. 

Along with Frank’s brother Bobby and his wife Ann, they worked together to build a successful wholesale farming business in Plainville and in 1970 established Testa Farms, a thriving retail nursery, fruit and vegetable stand and year-round food emporium.  Connie could do anything that needed doing. She was integral to the success of the business.  She could also drive anything – a rack body truck, a tractor, a snowmobile and anything else you could send her way.  She loved driving!

Multi-talented, she could sew anything, including the baptismal gowns for her granddaughters, and cook anything Frank sent her way, including squirrels, deer, eels, bear, beefalo, moose – even our pet pigs.  And she ate it all, too!  She was also the mechanic of the household and set an elegant holiday table.

Connie and Frank left the big white farmhouse in Plainville behind and moved to Florida in 1998.  They had a grand time in retirement, splitting their time between Florida and Maine, where they had a cabin in the woods.

Connie leaves behind her three children and five grandchildren, Jimmy, his wife Christine and their children Brianna and Sean; Kathy, her husband David Butler, and their children Gabriel, Kate and Meg; and Terry, who took loving care of her mother during her last months.   Connie was always there to help her children and was adored by her grandchildren – no one could ask for a better mother or grandmother.  She would insist that her own mother-and father-in-law, Theresa and Nicky, and her extended Italian family had done the same for her and she was happy she could pass it on.

She also leaves her two wonderful sisters, Birgit Squicciarini, and Henny Scott and her husband Bill, and her loving sisters-in-law Lorraine Kulesa and Lorraine’s husband Bob, Nancy Celano and her husband Bill, and Ann Testa, along with her many nieces and nephews.   

Connie Elizabeth Bjarno Testa loved her family. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.

Family and friends are welcome to gather on Monday, July 28 from 10 AM to 11 AM at Plainville Funeral Home, 81 Broad Street, Plainville. A Service in Celebration of Connie’s life will begin at 11 AM. Burial will follow at St. Ann Cemetery, Avon. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Connie may be made to the Plainville Community Food Pantry, 54 S. Canal St., Plainville, CT 06062. For more information or for online expressions of sympathy, please visit www.PlainvilleFuneralHome.com.

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