Margaret Mary Conway

Margaret Mary Finch Conway, a woman who loved her family, her church, her red wine and bourbon, and her Memphis Tigers (not necessarily in that order), passed away quietly this past Saturday night, June 11, 2016. Drawing on her depression-era upbringing, she was the definition of a “strong-willed woman” before it became a fashionable moniker and she instilled in her children and grandchildren that a determined and stubborn mind was a beautiful trait. This was especially evident after the sudden death of her beloved husband Larry in 1964. During her 93-year tenure here on earth, Margaret reveled in the simple things in her life—her days as a WAC in Philadelphia and NY during WWII, her Sunday morning Thornton Donut sales for her Girl Scouts, her years of helping alter the uniforms of the Memphis State marching band, the hundreds of Special Education students she taught over her 20+ years in the Memphis City Schools, and her weekly Sunday bulletin-folding for her parish family, St. Anne. Margaret will be remembered for her one-of-a-kind family turkey dinners on the beaches of 30A, her seedless watermelon slices, and her Hersey Bar Fat Cake. She held a master’s degree in the science of using a pressure cooker and could whip up a plate of brownies at a moment’s notice.Over the past several years, Alzheimer’s took parts of her away from those she loved. The sound of her laughter, her crooked-wry smile, and her indomitable spirit will always be etched in the memory of her sister, Kay Swicord; her sister-in-law Glen Finch Teofan (Ron); her daughters, Maggie Conway (Tom) and Libby Wortham (Dan); her daughter-in-law Linda Conway, widow of Margaret’s firstborn Larry, Jr.; her five grandchildren--Larry Conway III (Jennifer), Chris Conway (Dana), Becca Bassham (Donnie), Megan Murdock (Jon), and Jessie Wortham (fiancée Wade); her nine great grandchildren; and her many nieces and nephews living in the Mid-South and across the country from Massachusetts to Texas. If you wish to honor Margaret’s life, enjoy a glass of red wine or a Jack Daniels on the rocks, have dessert before you eat your dinner, take a walk on a beach and look for seashells, wear something “Blue for MSU”, re-gift some of the hundreds of items you receive each year when you enter the Publisher’s Clearing House, cut out a comic or two from the newspaper and mail it to a friend, spend time helping others in need, tell your children and grandchildren you love them, and, if you are so inclined, make a donation to the St. Anne Catholic Church Maintenance Fund or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Visitation will be held beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, 2016 at Memphis Funeral Home (Poplar Avenue) with a rosary to follow at 7. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Anne’s Catholic Church (Highland) at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 17, 2016, burial at Calvary Cemetery, with a reception to follow. The family would like to thank the staff of the Glenmary at Evergreen and the care-givers of Amedysis Hospice Care and Senior Management Solutions. A special tip of the cap goes to Margaret’s favorite faithful companions, Carolyn Johnson and Coleeta Goodman.