Eileen L. Conway

Eileen Conway, 62, passed away last Tuesday May 23rd, 2023. She is survived by her husband, Thomas (62) and her three sons, William (32), Christopher (28), and Corrigan (15). Eileen was a selfless, compassionate educator and nurturer. She attended SUNY Cortland and University of North Carolina before pursuing a lifelong career as a speech pathologist. Eileen and Thomas were married in the summer of 1987, and they enjoyed 35 happy years together. Born and raised with deep-seated Irish Catholic values, she wanted nothing more than a small battalion of children to raise and love. But biology did not cooperate; after four years of marriage, Eileen and Tom lovingly adopted William, followed four years later by the birth of Christopher. Many years later, in 2007, they welcomed Corrigan into the family.

Eileen’s selflessness and compassion is of the sort better fit for stories than for words.

In October of 1998, her son William, home from school with one forgettable ailment or another, demanded the warm comfort of homemade chicken noodle soup. A modest request, he believed. But the cupboard was empty and the hour was early. Eileen’s silver Volvo wagon could be seen in the hours before the morning rush blitzing from Stop & Shop to Spic ‘N Span and back again on a noble but doomed quest for chicken broth. Eileen finally convinced the owner of a French bistro, up early to prepare his kitchen for the lunch rush, to strain French onion soup of its onions and bring noodles to a boil. Eileen supplied the chicken, and that was that.

In the weeks before Christopher’s fifth birthday, he requested a “Pokecreatures-themed” party. “Do you mean Pokemon,” mom inquired. Christopher said no, he in fact meant Pokecreatures, and produced a supporting portfolio of computer paper with sketches of invented monsters (Eggy, Leaf-Oak, Dragontooth, etc). Several weeks later, Christopher and his kindergarten class were chowing down on ice cream cake - topped with a printed menagerie of his finest fantastical sketches - petting alligators and hedgehogs at the Audubon Society. The Pokecreature zoo was closed that day.

The Conway family memory bank is flush with stories like this: endless working and reworking of soulful floral arrangements in the two urns flanking the home’s entryway; “sick days” off from school to explore New York City at Christmas; a devilish smile as she listed the wrap sheet of speeding tickets she’d earned racing her tardy children around Connecticut.

In the last months of her life, her positive, youthful light flickered as a fog of anxious energy weighed heavy. But still, there were moments. Just last December as the family vacationed in the Swiss Alps, Eileen turned to Tom with a giddy spark of spontaneity. “I want to go paragliding,” she said. Soon, Tom stood in the basin of an alpine valley and tracked her across the sky. She was flying.

Eileen was born in 1960 to Peggy and Walter Lyons, and grew up in Yorktown Heights with her brother, Timothy. She spent her adult life in Fairfield, Connecticut, serving as a speech pathologist in public schools across Fairfield County. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00AM on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023, at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church, followed by a private reception. Details to follow on a Celebration of Life later this summer. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood in Bridgeport, CT.