Richard Sylvester Conway

Rich grew up in the Polish neighborhood of Cicero, son of a hard-working father and a caring mother who helped her relatives with food during the tough times of the Great Depression. He was a good kid who rarely got into trouble. He graduated with honors from St. Phillip High School in Chicago where most of the students were split between Irish and Italian and were always fighting each other, so being Polish was a benefit!

Rich was attending his first year at the University of Illinois—Navy Pier when he met his future wife Lina Fein on the tennis court. Rich was dating Lina in early 1952 when he and his brother Steve decided they needed to change their name from Gockowski (pronounced gotz-KOFF-ski) to something that would not get mispronounced when they soon would have to enlist in the Korean War. Their father was fine with changing their name but insisted his sons take the same name. Rich and Steve scoured the Chicago phone book and came up with about 10 options. Lina narrowed the list down to one—Conway—little knowing that she was choosing her married name.

The marriage almost never happened after Rich’s mother-in-law-to-be broke them up by coercing her daughter to return to Kansas City, MO. Rich reached out to Lina one last time in fall 1952 while attending naval aviation school in Norman, OK, and they made plans to elope on 23 November 1952 in Olathe, KS.

Rich graduated 8th in a class of 125 from ATA school in Memphis (Naval Air Station) and he picked an assignment to Alameda Naval Air Station (VP47) on Alameda Island, California. He served overseas eight months on Iwakuni, Japan as a crewmember of PBM-5 aircraft (Patrol Bomber, Martin).

Rich was discharged on 15 Jun 1956 and soon went to work as a test technician at Wilcox Electric Inc. (avionics) in Kansas City, MO and worked for 46 ½ years. He rapidly climbed the ladder to be a Reliability Engineer, FAA Marketing Manager, and finally Customer Service Manager. At home, Rich enjoyed watching professional sports and taking care of handyman chores. After retirement, he dedicated himself to taking care of his wife.

Predeceased by his brother Steve Conway. Survived by daughters Cynthia Ann (Dan) Rinne and Julie Ann Shaffer, son David Bryan (Kathryn Willard) Conway, grandchildren Heather, Evan, Donna, Linda, Richard, and Alexis.