20040403 A Tribute to Former Westminster Mayor LeRoy Conaway

A Tribute to Former Westminster Mayor LeRoy Conaway

April 3rd, 2004

On Monday, March 29, 2004 the Carroll County Community and The City of Westminster suffered a loss with the passing of a community leader.

Mayor Conaway was born April 28, 1930, in Winfield. He was the son of the late Jay W. and Amy Fleming Conaway. He leaves behind his wife of 50 years, Janet Lee (Wolbert) Conaway; daughter Teresa Conaway of Lincoln, Neb.; brother Jay Conaway of Westminster; niece Bonnie Lockard of Westminster; and nephews Dr. Boyd Myers of Annandale, Va., Bryan Myers of Manchester and Gary Conaway of Silver Springs.

Mayor Conaway was a 1948 graduate of Sykesville High School. Mayor Conaway spent much of his youth helping his father run a neighborhood general store. In the late 1940s, he supervised the construction of a new store, also in Winfield.

Before serving in the Army from 1952 to 1954, Mayor Conaway owned Conaway Bros. General Store in Winfield, which he sold to his brother after being drafted. After serving in the Army, he purchased East End Market in Westminster, which he sold in 1965. From 1965 to 1974, he was a stockbroker with Weis, Voisin Co. and Janney, Montgomery & Scott, members of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1974, he became manager of the Maryland Candy Co. In 1977, he returned to retail and bought The Whistle Stop, a small country store along the railroad tracks in the Carroll community of Patapsco.

Mayor Conaway was a charter member of Westminster Elks Lodge 2277. He was a member of the Loyal Order of the Moose 1381, American Legion Carroll Post 31, Door to Virtue Masonic Lodge 46 AF & AM and the Fraternal Order of Police. He had served on the board of directors of Carroll County General Hospital, was Carroll County Chairman of the Cancer Crusade in 1973, and former vice president of the MD Candy & Tobacco Assoc.

Mr. Conaway was a Westminster City Councilman from May 1964 to May 1971, Council President from May 1971 to May 1973 and Mayor of Westminster from May 1973 to May 1989. He also served as a former member of the MD Regional Planning Council, President of the Carroll Co. Chapter of the MML and had served on the Governor's Commission on Crime and Law Enforcement. He was inducted into the MML Hall of fame in 2000 for 25 years of service in municipal government.

Mayor Conaway was a conscientious, dedicated public servant, who was a hands-on Mayor whose main concern was the betterment of the city. Mayor Conaway knew the municipal employees, their families and the issues that were important to his constituents. Some of the most memorable improvements of Mayor Conaway’s tenure were the straightening of the intersections of Bond and John Streets and Liberty Street and Railroad Avenue, the expansion of the Westminster Police Department, the City's purchase of the Westminster water system, and reconstruction of Main Street.

This Memorial Tribute by the Westminster Mayor, Common Council and the Staff of The City of Westminster on behalf of the citizens of the City of Westminster was signed in Westminster City Hall, this April Third in the year Two Thousand and Four.

Westminster Mayor Kevin Dayhoff