Obituary of James F. Conway

James Francis Conway “Jim”,69, of New Florence, passed away Thursday, September 4, 2014, at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital. After a brief and courageous battle against brain cancer, he died peacefully surrounded by his family. Born March 4, 1945 the son of late William and Mary (Cosgriff) Conway. Also preceded in death by wife Linda J. (Garshnick) Conway who passed away August 2, 2012; and brother William Conway. Jim is survived by children Frank Conway and wife Deborah, Robinson; Amy Conway, Long Beach, CA; Colleen Marino and husband Scott, New Florence; Stacey Canaan and husband Patrick, Fairfield, OH; James P. Conway, Reno, NV; Aaron and wife Beth Ann (Floro) Conway, Pittsburgh; Grandchildren Kayla Donaldson, Pittsburgh; Devon and Marissa Conway, Denver , CO; Brendan, Sarah, and Joey Marino, New Florence; Lucas, Jacob, and Nathan Sheriff, Juliet and Eli Canaan, all of Fairfield, OH; Tori and Jonathan Conway, Robinson; Caroline Conway, Pittsburgh; sisters Mary Patricia Hurley, Springfield, MA; Patricia Fritzhenry, Keene, NH; Mary Lou Donohue, East Longmeadow, MA; sister-in-law Patricia Conway. Jim was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Springfield Technical High School in 1963 and then earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Western New England College in 1967. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Pittsburgh to work for General Electric before settling in Indiana County to work for the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) in Johnstown. During this time he met and married his wife of 43 years, Linda, with whom he helped raise six children and fourteen grandchildren. Although he was gainfully employed as a licensed professional engineer, he bought a 120-acre farm where he made his own wine, bailed his own hay, and raised his own beef. Although his life as a farmer proved to be short-lived, he lived on this farmland for the rest of his life. While working at Penelec and various other utility companies, Jim spent most of his professional life working in power plants throughout western Pennsylvania and other areas of the northeastern United States. He took great pride in playing a key role in first building and operating power plants and, later, building and operating flue-gas desulfurization units (scrubbers) to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. In other words (and as he liked to say with his typical deadpan delivery) he spent the first twenty years of his career polluting the air and the second twenty years cleaning it up. Jim was a founding member of the Wheatfield Water Authority and, therefore, was instrumental in bringing clean drinking water to a community that was previously 100% reliant on inconsistent supplies of well water. After Wheatfield Water Authority was consolidated with Highridge Water Authority, Jim served on Highridge’s Board of Directors as Chairman of the Board for more than twenty-five years up to the date of his death. In his younger years, Jim loved to travel, garden, camp, ski, fish and hunt. In his later years he enjoyed the simple pleasures of reading and listening to classical music. He had a brilliant analytical mind, and he never lost his love of learning, a trait (more than any other) that he tried in earnest to pass on to his children and grandchildren. The members of the community will remember him as a kind neighbor, friend and coworker. His family will remember him as a loving and generous father, husband, grandfather, brother and uncle. Your family thanks you for always being there for us when we needed you the most. We will forever love and miss you, but your spirit, love and laughter will live through us for generations to come. Goodbye, Dad. Friends received 2-4 & 7-9 pm Sunday at Richard C. Stuart Funeral Home, 392 E. Philadelphia St., Armagh where service will be held 11 am Monday. Internment Armagh Cemetery. In lieu of gifts or floral arrangements, donations can be made to Habitat for Humanity or Doctors without Borders, two non-profits that Jim felt worthy of support due to their good business model.