James K. Conway

James Kevin Conway

Sent from Heaven:  August 19, 1942

Returned to God:  April 12, 2025

James Kevin Conway, 82, of Lower Gwynedd passed away peacefully on the morning of Saturday, April 12th.

Jim was born in Philadelphia, PA to Michael Joseph and Ellen Francis V. (nee Magurn) Conway.  He graduated from Germantown Academy in 1960 and LaSalle College in 1964.  He married the love of his life, Ellen O’Gara, in 1963 in his Junior year of college.   They had four children together, Kevin (Dolly), Brian (Suzanne), Keri Casey (Tom “Butter”), and Bridget Fick (Patrick).    Jim is also survived by six grandchildren and one great grandchild: Caitlin, Flynn, Mackey, Riley, Campbell, Brendan and Kaden.  Jim is preceded in death by his parents, Mike and Ellen Conway.

Jim was an outstanding athlete excelling in football, basketball, and baseball at Norwood Academy and Gemantown Academy, and was co-captain of the basketball team with his best friend, Chuck Devlin, his Senior year at GA.   He held many Inter-Ac league titles as an outstanding athlete and went on to play basketball at LaSalle College, where he was Captain of their Freshman Team.

After college, Jim worked briefly for 3M.    In 1967, however, he started a sales career with Jostens that lasted for 41 years.   He excelled in sales to local high schools, but what Jim really excelled in was in building relationships with people.   To say he has many friends is an understatement.  Some of his closest friends today started out as the school administrators who he worked with.   He had an infectious smile and always made you feel like you were the only person in the room.   He was an avid storyteller and loved nothing more than talking about Philadelphia sports, the Little Quakers, the many and varied Philadelphia sports legends of his era, the Palestra and Big 5 basketball and always lived by the motto that “laughter is the best medicine”.   If you met him only once, you were affected by his warm smile.  He had a knack for making people feel good.

As a Dad, Jim never missed any of his children’s sporting events.   There was no greater “constant” at every sporting event than our Dad.  It was a given that he was there.   He was a quiet presence on the sideline or in the bleachers and could always be counted on for a truthful assessment of your effort on the car ride home. 

Jim and Ellen spent many summers in Sea Isle City, New Jersey with their four children and enjoyed life on the Bay of 46th Place each summer as their children grew older and grandchildren started arriving. 

During his career with Jostens, Jim was the top Sales Rep for many years, but more important to that was that he made some of the best friends of his life working for Jostens.  It was a unique brotherhood for sure.

Jim’s legacy will be defined by his infectious smile, his genuine interest in hearing other people’s stories, and telling stories that poked fun at himself to make others laugh.     His legacy will be defined more greatly, however, by the love he had for his family, most especially his wife, Ellen.   Being married for 61 years couldn’t always be easy like Sunday morning, but Ellen and Jim did it beautifully together, no more beautifully than when they held hands, walked out on the dance floor, and jitterbugged together.   Simply put, there were none better than our parents at the jitterbug.

A visitation will be held on Monday, April 21 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at St Anthony of Padua Church located at 259 Forest Avenue, Ambler, PA  19002.   On Tuesday, April 22nd, there will be an additional visitation from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with words of remembrance to follow at 10:30 a.m. and a funeral mass will begin at 10:45 a.m.  Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Good Samaritan Fund at Spring House Estates or the Wounded Warrior Project. 

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