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Jeremiah P. Conway

Jeremiah P. Conway of Orrtanna passed away at Gettysburg Hospital on Monday, January 14th, 2013.

Jeremiah was born on September 5, 1918 in New Haven, Connecticut, son of the late Patrick Conway and Nora Courtney. He grew up and lived most of his life in New York City before moving to Pennsylvania seven years ago.

He attended La Salle Academy, Dunwoodie Seminary and Cathedral College. He worked at the New York Daily News where he met his wife, Gertrude Tobin, to whom he was married for fifty-five years. He is predeceased by his parents and sister, Patricia Tobin. He is survived by his brother, William and his two children, Jeremiah Conway (Portland, Maine) and Trudy Conway (Orrtanna), their spouses Nazaré (Matos) originally of Portugal and Huschang Banan originally of Iran, and his four grandchildren, Brendan and Patrick Conway and Sedira and Daniel Banan.

He received a fine classical education which instilled a lifelong love of inquiry and reading, especially of poetry and literature. He was an enthusiastic assistant to his wife’s lifelong teaching vocation at St. Anne’s Parish School in Flushing New York. He collaborated with his wife on field trips, student activities, plays, even playing Santa for her students. He was a gifted athlete in multiple sports but especially baseball, pitching in high school and college and proudly was invited to try out for the NY Yankees. Anyone who knew him heard multiple times that he pitched in Yankee Stadium. He and his wife travelled extensively in the U.S, the Caribbean and Europe and instilled in their children a deep appreciation of foreign cultures, religions and people. He reveled in the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren, moving up and down the East Coast for every significant event of their lives.

He was an extremely social man and loved being in the company of friends, telling stories, sharing jokes and entertaining as many as possible – true to his Irish heritage. While he deeply missed New York, he came to treasure this area due to its beauty and primarily the local community that embraced him. His participation in the Fairfield senior citizens exercise class was his ticket to joyful friendship. He will be deeply missed by his friends and family.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mary’s Church in Fairfield on Friday, January 18th at 11:00. On Thursday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. there will be a viewing at Monahan’s Funeral Home in Fairfield and burial in New York City on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Francis Breadline (135 West 31st Street, New York, New York 10001-3439), an organization he supported throughout his entire life. Online condolences and tributes may be made at www.monahanfuneralhome.com.

If you knew Jeremiah, and would like to see him remembered
 in the next History of Fairfield, Please send us any stories or
 anecdotes about him to us at: history@emmitsburg.net

Read other obituaries in the Historical Society archives