Connie was born in 1951, daughter of Donald Richard Rice and Ruby Kathleen (Jackson) Rice Haynes.

She attended Jefferson schools and graduated in the class of 1969. She graduated from Iowa State University and worked toward a Master's Degree in Social Work. In 1990, Connie received a $200 scholarship from Jefferson P.E.O. Chapter CZ, the first given to a woman to continue her education after it was interrupted, and the next year was awarded a $300 scholarship from the same chapter. Connie was attending Des Moines Area Community College in business administration. In 1993-1994, Connie was named to the Dean's List at Buena Vista College's Fort Dodge Center for having a perfect 4.0 GPA.

She worked at Woodward State Hospital as a Resident Treatment Worker, doing in-home therapy with parents of the clients. She specialized in autism. Later she was one of Greene County's first AmeriCorps volunteers and worked in REACH, which stands for Rural Education And Community Help for victims of domestic violence, be they men, women or children. AmeriCorps is the domestic version of the Peace Corps signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Connie's goal was to get a local domestic abuse council up and running with funding to keep it going when her contract with AmeriCorps expired in October 1977. She also wanted to educate victims about their rights and inform them of their options in order to empower them to act on their abusive situations before they became life-threatening. In 1997, she helped establish the "Victims of Violence" prevention program with U. S. Cellular in which cellular phones are provided to victims who qualify.

She was a sister of Richard (Rick) Rice, Connie, Sandy Scheuermann, James Rice and Vickie Rice; and the mother of Kimberly, Theresa and Heather.