Rebecca Kellam CONWAY

CONWAY, Rebecca REBECCA KELLAM CONWAY, 92, died peacefully at her home in Shiloh near Micanopy, Fla., Nov. 5, 2014, her beauty and bright mind intact until the end. Coming from a family with deep roots in the South, she was born Aug. 23, 1922, to Armine Raymond Kellam and Rebecca Warner Kellam in Raleigh, N.C. "Becca," as she was called by her mother and sisters, spent her Depression-era early childhood in a crowded apartment in Atlanta's Virginia-Highlands neighborhood, her father's Coca-Cola salesman income stretched to the limit. The average life expectancy for a woman born in the 1920s in the United States was 61 years. Becca had so much fun she tacked on another three decades. She became a popular beauty queen in high school, serving as president of Gamma Phi Delta sorority before attending Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, Ga., and studying home economics. Those few fortunate enough to visit her homes over the years would assume she had studied and received a doctorate in home decorating instead. Her globetrotting lifestyle was evident in every home she made, particularly through her love of color: A childhood visit to Silver Springs, Fla., had imprinted a love for blue-green colors. On Sept. 17, 1942, she married Hobart McKinley Conway, Jr., a brilliant, young Georgia Tech aeronautical engineering student who was working his way through school as a saxophone-playing band leader. For the next 69 years, she devoted herself to being his perfect partner. She accompanied Mac to Washington, D.C., and Palo Alto, Calif., as he became one of NASA's first scientists, then returned to Atlanta and helped him build his career in international economic development and get elected to two terms in the Georgia State Senate. No story of her life would be complete without mentioning that Mac bought his first airplane in 1957, and from then until he stopped flying at age 81 in 2003, he made business trips in his own airplanes whenever possible. And Becky was expected to accompany him whenever possible. This life was rarely easy or comfortable. Many trips were made in a low-wing Mooney, which was a fast little airplane, but which required her to climb up on the wing after Mac and then step down into the miniscule little cockpit. And, as the last person in became the first person out, she had to get up and out on the wing without any help when they arrived somewhere. It's probably a good thing there weren't always people around to hear what she had to say about that since Mac was still flying her around well into her 70s. She often took their two daughters into museums in state capitals around the U.S. while Mac made business calls. Most of her early travel was when the girls were out of school and also included trips all over the Western Hemisphere. Later, she would enjoy trips with him in air carriers; Mac wanted to see the world, and she followed him. Everywhere. Always the perfect partner. She enjoyed staying at the world's grandest hotels, but often endured some of the sparsest. She survived a harrowing flight down the Amazon with Mac and the children, saw penguins in Antarctica, contracted dengue fever in Kenya, was shoved aboard a camel in Egypt, narrowly escaped a hijacking in Los Angeles, and suffered through an agonizing train ride across Siberia and Mongolia. For her fortitude, the International Development Research Council awarded her a plaque, the "Way Beyond The Call Of Duty Award," citing "extraordinary perseverance and achievement in supporting, guiding and generally putting up with McKinley Conway through the ages in every nook and cranny around the globe." Wherever she went, Becky sought out crafts markets and beaches, first collecting various types of native artwork and beachcombing treasures, which adorn her home to this day, then focusing on beads. Over the years, she collected countless varieties and assembled them into thousands of uniquely beautiful necklaces. After Mac died in 2011, she expanded her craft show necklace business (Eclectic Necklaces), and poured her energy into it, sometimes producing museum-quality necklaces until declining vision brought that chapter to a close shortly before her death. She lived a long and healthy life, despite achieving her Southern Lady ambition of doing her best never to break a sweat intentionally. She is survived by two daughters, Linda Duever, an ecologist, and Laura Lyne, CEO of Conway Data, Inc. (www.conway.com), the Atlanta-based company Mac started all those years ago. Both Linda and Laura reside at Shiloh; there are two grandchildren, Adam Conway Jones-Kelley of Atlanta, and Piper Reva Jones-Kelley of Whidbey Island, Wash.; two sisters: Coley Kellam Elder, of Philadelphia; and Jane Kellam Freeman of Merritt Island, Fla.; three nephews; four nieces; and numerous great-nephews and great-nieces. (She lamented there were no great-grandchildren.) She will be remembered at a small funeral service on Wednesday, December 10 at 10:30 a.m. at the Shiloh United Methodist Church at 11020 N.W. Highway 320, Micanopy, Fla. 32667. Interment will be at Shiloh. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Shiloh United Methodist Church or Hospice of Marion County (http://www.hospiceofmarion.com/). Arrangements are under the care of Milam Funeral and Cremation Services, 311 S. Main St, Gainesville, FL 32601. 352-376-5361