Jean Conroy

Lucinda Jean MacGibbon Conroy (Jean), beloved mom and grandma, passed away peacefully at home on Sept. 14, 2023 at the age of 100. Jean was born November 25, 1922 in Minneapolis to Lucinda (Hedding) and Everett E. MacGibbon, D.D.S. She attended Kenwood Elementary School, University High School, Mills College in California, and the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1943. She was active in the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and later studied Spanish in Mexico City. After graduation she moved to New York City to work in the Export Division of The Pillsbury Company. Her strong skills and fluency in Spanish enabled her to assume many work responsibilities for which she received accolades from superiors and peers alike. At Pillsbury she met William Vincent Conroy, whom she married in 1953. Jean then took on the role of full-time spouse and mother. After starting their family in the New York City area, Jean and Bill returned to Minneapolis in 1963. Jean's life revolved around her family, friends, faith, and the outdoors. She took quiet pride in her children's accomplishments. She encouraged and supported her family's academic, musical, and athletic pursuits, attending almost every sporting event, play, recital, and academic award ceremony of her children and grandchildren. She shuttled children to school and games, assisted with paper routes, and cheered from cold rinkside snowbanks, all while caring for an ailing husband and later her elderly mother. She was encouraging and supportive, and her common sense and keen insights were invaluable. Jean was generous, caring, kind to all, and modest. She loved all living things -- from flowers to bugs to pets to people. Despite being a young widow and experiencing blindness in the later years of her life, she never complained and approached life with humor and wit. Jean loved the outdoors and modeled an active lifestyle long before it was common - skating, playing tennis, biking, swimming and rowing on Cullen Lake, and walking each day. She continued walks through her neighborhood well into her 90s, adding walking poles in her later years. She exercised into the last weeks of her life. An active volunteer who served her community in many ways, Jean was involved in PTAs, State political organizations, served as an election judge, delivered Meals on Wheels into her 80s, and was on its Minneapolis Board for many years. Jean loved music and played the piano beautifully; her rendition of the Chopin Minute Waltz was a favorite request at family gatherings. She enjoyed opera and symphony orchestras, listening to Metropolitan Opera broadcasts every Saturday and regularly attending various musical performances. Jean is survived by her children, Cindy Conroy (John Madgett), Bill Conroy (Margaret Harrington) and Tricia Conroy, grandchildren Sam and Elizabeth Shaheen and Grace Conroy, brother Duncan MacGibbon, M.D. (Jan), and numerous MacGibbon, Bailey, Higgins, and Donius nieces, nephews, and their children and grandchildren. Jean was preceded in death by her parents; her husband William, from whom she was widowed for 47 years; brother John E. MacGibbon (Evelyn); brother George D. MacGibbon, DDS (Nancy); sister Ann L. Bailey (Charles D.); and sister-in-law Lee Conroy Higgins (Carl). Special thanks to Dr. Anthony Woolley for his excellent and respectful care and for making Jean laugh, and to Dr. Paul Kalina for his kindness and extraordinary efforts to retain Jean's vision. Thanks to all of Jean's caregivers, who helped her to remain in the home and neighborhood she loved, especially Mary Davis and Aisha Kenneh. Services will be held at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, at 11:00 am Friday, September 29, with visitation at the Church one hour preceding the service. Parking information available at mary.org/event/funeral-jean-conroy/. Memorials may be directed to the Animal Humane Society, St. Vincent de Paul outreach ministry at the Basilica of St. Mary, or donor's choice.

Tributes

Jean Conroy

November 25, 1922 - September 14, 2023

Tributes

Jean Conroy

November 25, 1922 - September 14, 2023

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