George James Conway was born on August 3, 1902, in Sioux City, Iowa. He was the last of the five children of James and Marcella (Beacom) Conway. Following the relocation of the Conway Family in Duluth, Minnesota, the young George Conway completed his elementary and secondary education at the Cathedral schools there.

The Bishop of Duluth from 1918 to 1924 was the Most Reverend John T. McNicholas, O.P. It was through his example that the future Father Conway became interested in the Dominican Order. He completed the two years of college required for entrance into the Order at Providence College in Rhode Island, then petitioned Father Raymond Meagher, O.P., the Provincial of St. Joseph Province, for admission to the Dominican Novitiate. In his application, he wrote that he wished to be a Dominican because of the diversity of ministries of the Dominicans and their dedication to preaching.

George Conway began his novitiate at St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, Ohio, on September 25, 1924, at which time he was given his name in religion, Gerard. His first profession followed in 1925 at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky, and then he began his philosophical studies at the newly established Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas in River Forest, Illinois.

Solemnly professed in 1928, he was transferred to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., for his theological preparation. He was ordained a priest at St. Dominic's Church in Washington on June 15, 1931.

The goals Father George Conway set for himself were to be fulfilled only in part. He wanted to be a preacher. The talent he possessed was manifested in the work he performed at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. Beginning in 1932, and throughout his thirty- six years at that same school, Father Conway led the debate team to numerous national championships. In his professional and priestly life he was known for sacred eloquence.

Although the diversity of ministry may have occasioned his vocation, Father Conway was known throughout the four decades of teaching at Fenwick as the Master of the mathematical sciences. Countless numbers of young men, electing to choose the scientific track, encountered Father Conway in such subjects as advanced algebra, solid geometry, and trigonometry. He was a taskmaster in his science and in his methodology. The tribute

paid to him came from the numerous graduates of Fenwick High School who went on in their respective careers in the mathematically related fields and who even today remember the discipline and practical short cuts that enabled them to advance on the university level far beyond their peers who had not experienced Father George Conway in the classroom.

Following his long tenure at Fenwick, Father George turned to the pastoral ministry that had initially inspired his entrance into the Dominican Order. For a number of years, he served as an Associate Chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Finally, the weight of his years began to take their toll. He relinquished his service as hospital chaplain and continued on limited service at the Dominican Priory of River Forest until his final illness brought him to the day of his death, January 19, 1984, at the age of eighty-one.

Following a funeral Mass with the Most Reverend Timothy Lyne, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, as chief concelebrant, and attended by many of his Fenwick colleagues and the entire student body of Fenwick High School, he was buried in the Dominican plot at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois, on January 23.