In memoriam: Graham Patrick Conroy, 1925-2017 GRAHAM PATRICK CONROY, who served Portland State for three decades as a professor of philosophy, died December 21 in Portland. He was 92 years old. Professor Conroy was born in Portland on April 30, 1925, to Earl Patrick Conroy and Florence Elizabeth Casey Conroy Butson. He was a fourth generation Oregonian and a lifetime resident of the Portland area. His great-grandfather, James Casey, emigrated from County Loth, Ireland, in 1849. He joined the Aaron Rose oxen train as the official blacksmith for the Rose party, which traveled from Michigan on the Oregon Trail to found Roseburg in 1851. A 1943 graduate of Lincoln High School, Professor Conroy briefly attended Reed College before enlisting in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served as the xerographer’s mate—or weather forecaster—on USS Maryland (BB46), a Colorado-class battleship. On November 29, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a kamikaze aircraft struck the Maryland, killing 31 crew members and wounding 30. The attack was aimed at the bridge, where Professor Conroy was posted, but anti-aircraft fire blasted off the plane’s wing, diverting it toward the decks below. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1945, Professor Conroy continued his education, graduating from Stanford University in 1948. It was at Stanford that he met students from Iran who introduced him to the Baha’i faith, which centers on the belief in the unity of all religions and humanity. As a faithful Baha’i, he was honored in death by funeral rituals that included being washed and wrapped in a white shroud and wearing a burial ring with the inscription, “I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” Professor Conroy earned a master’s in 1951 and a Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of California, Berkeley, becoming Berkeley’s youngest recipient of a doctorate in philosophy. He wrote his dissertation on Bishop George Berkeley, for whom Berkeley, California, was named. In 1960 he became a professor at Eastern Washington University, where he met and married Frances Rose Goodrich. The couple had two daughters, Sheilagh and Gillian. He joined Portland State in 1962 and was given an office in Neuberger Hall, only a block away from Lincoln Hall, where he had been a student when the building served as Lincoln High School. 4 Professor Conroy’s life beyond the Portland State campus ranged from his love and knowledge of classical music to being the oldest member of the Jackie Chan Fan Club. He worked at the Pickwick Bookshop in Hollywood, was as well versed in the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein as he was in the jazz of Dizzy Gillespie (who was a fellow Baha’i), and once spent a night on a Persian carpet in Lake Oswego with the mythically reclusive author Thomas Pynchon. Professor Conroy was a voracious reader— his home held wall-to-wall bookcases of scholarly works, all of which he had read multiple times. Professor Conroy is survived by his daughter Gillian Conroy, brother David Butson, and grandchildren Molly Conroy and Casey Foster. He was preceded in death in 1994 by his daughter Sheilagh Conroy, as well as siblings Bill Butson and Reah Earlene Conroy Walker. He is also survived by his companion, Mary Constans, and his dog, Spock. A funeral was held December 26, followed by committal with military honors at Willamette National Cemetery. Remembrances can be made to the Portland State University Alumni Association Scholarship Fund, PO Box 1326, Portland 97207; https://giving.psuf.org/. —Doug Swanson
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