Martin Joseph Conroy

Martin Joseph Conroy, sometimes saint and scholar, son of Irish immigrants Michael Vincent Conroy of Castlebar and Ellen McCormack Conroy of Claremorris, County Mayo arrived on January 12, 1932 at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, but in true spirit kept moving and within the year landed in Los Angeles, where his sister Mary Ellen was born. The Conroys resided in many locales throughout the county including “the ranch” where they cared for animals and Martin collected comics from Prince Valiant to Superman and listened to the serials of the Lone Ranger, I Love a Mystery and Captain Midnight. Martin graduated from Saint Agnes High School in 1950, where he served as Class President. In 1955, he received his Bachelors in English from Loyola University, where he acted as President of Del Rey Players and in 1956 he completed his Masters in English. From 1976 to 1978, he worked on his administrative credential at USC. His response to the call, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, was to dedicate his life to service and public education. To that end, he became a proud proponent of public education through his public service program on CBS, Steps to Learning, which showcased the excellence of teaching in Los Angeles. For 37 years, he served the public as first a teacher and finally as a principal. His assignments took him to all corners of the city from Venice, to Hollywood, to Fairfax High, retiring as principal from Reseda Community Adult School where he garnered the admiration of his colleagues and gratitude of students as evidenced by the standing room only gathering at his retirement celebration. “There is a word that defines an upright, honorable, decent person – someone of consequence; someone to admire and emulate; someone of noble character – Martin Conroy personifies the word – ‘A mensch’,” read the remembrance of the Reseda staff. Martin made a stop at Pacoima Junior High, where as Director of the Television, Film and Arts Center, his groundbreaking program, Newseekers, aired on PBS and set the standard for student produced news broadcasts across the country. At East Los Angeles Occupational Center, he continued to innovate at the intersection of academics, art and communication.

For Martin, the beginning was always the word whether it be written, spoken or sung. His political perspicacity reverberated in the topsy-turvy raps of Gilbert and Sullivan, the deadpan drawings of Doonesbury and the clever cartoons of Paul Conrad. He spent hours in the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Masterpiece Theater, where Foyle’s War was a favorite. His training in radio, television and theater prepared him well for his most important role as narrator of the classics, the A. A. Milne collection, where at bedtime he became the definitive voice for Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore long before Disney took over the franchise. An observation might include his universal affirmation, “Absolutely” or a line borrowed from Shakespeare, “His life was gentle, and the elements so mix’d in him that Nature might stand up. . . And say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’” In his own life, he was able encompass being both a Director of the Reseda Chamber of Commerce and an oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict and his daily catechism included completing the crossword puzzle. “There, but for the grace of God, go I” was lived through his contributions to countless community efforts including the Los Angeles Catholic Worker and their Tuna Sunday, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Maryknoll, Pax Christi and in raising relief money for the hungry of Bangladesh and the homeless of Sylmar’s earthquake. He experienced his love of Los Angeles in the back kitchens of the dim sum palaces on North Broadway, at Manny’s a.k.a. El Tepeyac on Evergreen, home of the ten pound burrito, and at Taix, where he was on a first name basis with the now “vintage” wait staff. A sojourn to Dodger Stadium was really a reason to visit Barragan’s and his refusal to pay for parking meant that walking was always part of the trip. Sunday outings always ended at an ice cream parlor, usually Carousel or McConnell’s. On August 31, 2013, Martin did go gently into that good day and on to The Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Martin’s legacy lives on in his wife of 54 years, Diana May, in his children and their spouses - Anne and John Salazar, Claudia Conroy, Michael and Alessandra Conroy, Jennifer and David O’Day, and William Conroy and grandchildren - Patrick, Ian and Kathleen Salazar; Joshua, Matteo and Nicolas Conroy; Diana and Emily O’Day. Friends, the extended family, colleagues, neighbors, the church, school and wider community, and his caregivers were a reciprocal blessing, in which he both gave and received love and support and for which we, the family, are forever grateful. May you go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.