Barbara Conway
Barbara Richard Conway was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on September 21, 1924 to J. Raymond Conway and Anna Conley Conway. Her parents placed a high value on education for their daughters, and sent Barbara and her older sister Anne to the Academy of Notre Dame, the premier Catholic girls’ school in Lowell. After their graduations, both Anne and Barbara attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and graduated in 1945 and 1946.
The sisters decided to remain in Washington after graduation, because there were better opportunities there than in Lowell for professional employment. They worked as administrators at Catholic University and Washington Hospital Center; Barbara spent almost all of her career at Catholic University’s School of Nursing, where she served as Assistant to the Dean for many years until her retirement in 1989. Barbara also continued her education there, and received a Master’s Degree from CUA in 1958.
Barbara and Anne lived together for their entire lives until Anne’s death in December, 2006. They moved to The Oglethorpe Apartments in Hyattsville when the building opened in 1963, and purchased their apartment when the building converted to a condominium in 1981.
Barbara took some pride in the fact that she and her sister made their own way in the world, managed their own finances and affairs, and depended on no one but each other. All who knew her will remember Barbara as a consummate professional who valued competence and precision, attention to detail, and always maintained her dignity. They will also remember her as a kind and generous person who always respected the dignity of everyone she met, without distinction. Those who knew her personally also treasured her sly, dry wit.
Though the Conways led quiet lives, Barbara had many interests outside her work. She loved baseball—no doubt an inheritance from her grandfather Richard Conway, a professional ballplayer in Lowell. She read books constantly to the end of her life, often reading 2 or 3 a week, and especially loved to read history, mystery novels, and historical fiction. She also enjoyed classical music and opera, and in her final years she developed an interest in crafts.
Throughout her life, Barbara was devoted to her Church and to her faith. She was an active member of Saint Jerome’s Catholic Church in Hyattsville for over 50 years. After her sister’s death, she was named an Extraordinary Minster of the Eucharist, and for several years, she ministered to the shut-in residents of Friendship Arms Senior Housing in Hyattsville. She considered this service as one of the most meaningful experiences of her life.
In 2015, Barbara moved to Hillhaven Assisted Living in Adelphi, and made new friends there and took on new activities. She died there on May 10, 2017, following a brief illness.
She is survived by cousins Joan Mooney of Maine, Lawrence McEachern, Mary Jo McEachern, Kathleen Chiccarelli, and Francis McCabe of Massachusetts, Richard McEachern of Florida, and many friends in the Washington area and around the country. Friends may call at St. Jerome's Catholic Church, 5205 43rd Avenue; Hyattsville on Friday, May 19, 2017 from 10 AM until Mass time at 11 AM. Private Interment will take place in Lowell, MA. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her name to St. Jerome's Catholic Church, 5205 43rd Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20781 or to the Trinity University Office of Development, 125 Michigan Avenue NE, Washington DC 20017.