Mary C. Conway

RONAN - Mary C. Conway, 51, of Ronan, passed away on Dec. 2, 2003, of heart failure at Missoula's Community Medical Center.

Mary was born Nov. 24, 1952, in Pittsburgh, the daughter of Charles and Marlan (Burke) Conway.

Mary was a special woman whose main focus was to assist the developmentally disabled in Montana. She began her mission in Charlo in September 1981, where she taught special education in the district until June 1982. From September 1982 until June 1984, she was the behavior therapist for the Dillon schools.

She then moved to Flathead Industries in Kalispell, where she was "Employee of the Year" for 1985 and continued her employment until 1991, when she moved to the Mission Valley.

Mission Mountain Enterprises was her next stop on the career path as the instructor for the work activities center. She had a special talent working with the autistic and decided to pursue this passion by taking a teaching position in Vancouver, Wash., in 1996.

She missed the Mission Valley and her numerous pets and decided to return in 1997. She continued to be active in the community until February 2001, when she left, once again, to pursue professional, personal and family goals in Pennsylvania.

However, her love of the Mission was too strong and she returned in October 2003. Unfortunately the Savior had other plans and called her to His side on Dec. 2, 2003.

She is survived by her life partner Gary Dietrich of Ronan; her three brothers, Charles, James and Robert Conway and her sister, Barbara Welsch; numerous nieces and nephews; her great aunt Eleanor; and her dog Goldie, all of whom loved her dearly and will never forget her memory.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Mission Mountain Enterprises Center in Ronan.

Contributed by - Deborah Sause Bogossian