George "Scibe" Conway

George E. Scibe Conway, 88, of Great Falls, a mechanic and U.S. Army veteran, died of natural causes Friday, Sept. 28, at a local care facility.Visitation is 4-8 p.m. Friday and one hour before the 10 a.m. Saturday funeral service at OConnor Funeral Home. His funeral is followed by burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Our father left this world to be with his wife Frannie on Sept. 28, 2012. Dad was born Aug. 27, 1924, in Sand Coulee to Edward and Esther Conway, which at the time was a coal mining town. Not one for school he completed 8th grade and started his mechanic career. Dad got his nickname early on. Scibe is short for scabs since he was a scrapper for his time. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in August of 1945 and was honorably discharged in December of 1946. The airplane that dad was responsible for was of the single engine variety, which was always being flown somewhere. So, the mechanic had to go along for the ride in case of a breakdown. He mentioned that he had no reason to ever fly again. His mechanic career started at Suer Buick, which lead to Robinson Motors where he expanded his experience in the Jeep or Willys line of vehicles. Rice Motors acquired the Jeep line, and Dad continued to excel. He was a superior technician, as he could just listen to an engine in order to diagnose what was wrong. However, Dad did not like change. He once told the management at Rice Motors, if a Datsun is ever parked in my stall when I come to work, I quit; which he did, the day a Datsun was parked in his stall for him to work on. So he packed his tools and went home to Frannie. Our Dad continued to work as an engineer at the old Casco Building, which was the former Columbus Hospital, until he became disabled after a fall at work. Dad enjoyed tinkering with lots of things and could always find a way to fix anything. He especially loved NASCARs Tony Stewart, and with Dave, his son-in-law, and his brother, Jim, there were many Sundays of good driver/bad driver. Since Dad was a New York Yankee hater, he loved their nemesis, the Boston Red Sox and to a lesser degree, the Detroit Tigers. The Dallas Cowboys were also not revered by him, but by his son, which made the Green Bay Packers versus the Dallas Cowboys games a bit challenging. However, we all have vices; some good, some innocent in a way. Dad enjoyed playing poker, not only at home, where we learned as kids, but enjoyed the occasional video poker outing. Hence, the nickname Howie that he earned from his daughter. The best movies were those that had either John Wayne or Kirk Douglas. However, he had a real love for Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke and would always complain I have seen this one at least a thousand times. Dad was a good cook, but later in life developed a passion for Burger Kings whopper junior.When the drive up says to you the usual Mr. Conway? your passion is now an obsession. Dads wife and our mother, Frances Rosalie (Olson) Conway preceded him in death in December 1997; along with his older brother Jack, who was killed in a coal mining accident years ago; and his younger brother, Jim, who passed away in January of 2008. Our father is survived by his daughter Pam and her husband Dave McGillis of Black Eagle. Pam and Dave have one daughter Noelle Nicole McGillis who lives in Santa Clara, Calif. His son, George Conway and wife Mary of Great Falls had one daughter Annie, who is married to Dusty Kurtz. They live in Spokane, Wash., and have one daughter, Brooklyn Rosalie Kurtz.