James Bunn 'Pete' Conroy

James Bunn Pete Conroy, age 85, a native of Mason City, Iowa and fourth generation Iowan, died of natural causes Monday, April 13, 2009 at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Memorial services will be held 1:00 PM Friday, April 24, 2009 at St. Johns Episcopal Church, 120 1st Street NE with Rev. Elliot Blackburn officiating. Private family inurnment will take place in Elmwood St. Joseph Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the Stebens Childrens Theatre or Hospice of North Iowa.

The older of two children born to James W. Conroy and Helen Mabel Bunn, Pete attended schools in Iowa, California, Minnesota, and Chicago. He worked on the Alaskan highway in 1942, following graduation from Pillsbury Military Academy. A Navy veteran of WWII, he graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1949 and taught school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Clear Lake, Iowa, before entering the real estate business in Mason City, where he resided on the family farm in Bath Township with his wife Joan Jameson and four children. While in business, Conroy was active in the Mason City Board of Realtors, Cerro Gordo County Extension Board, Bath township school board, Farm Bureau, Mason City Community Theater, and the Republican Party. His lifelong interest in government and politics found fruition when he moved to Washington in 1974 to serve as Administrative Assistant to U.S. Congressman, later Senator, Charles E. Grassley. From then until his retirement in 1990, Conroy served also as Staff Director of U.S. House and Senate Committees and as Executive Director of the Federal Council on Aging in the Department of Health and Human Services. During his retirement years, Pete served on the Planning, Marketing and Legislative Affairs Committee for Mercy Hospital in Mason City, for the Iowa Governors Council on Aging under Governor Vilsack, and on the Governing Body for Quality Improvement of the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care. Friends and family remember Conroy as an omnivorous reader and a person of many interests ranging from fishing and opera to wildlife habitat and gardening.

He is survived by his children, Deborah Jean Etcheson and husband Gary of Lamoni, Iowa, David Michael Conroy and wife Linda of Apple Valley, Minnesota, Christopher Jameson Conroy and wife Patty of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and son-in-law Wayne Wenthe of Hawkeye, Iowa, thirteen grandchildren, Matthew, Jason, Cade and Andrew Wenthe, Emily and Jared Etcheson, Amber, Nicholas, Brittany and Courtney Conroy, Jennifer, Patrick and Tina Conroy; six great-grandchildren.

Conroy was preceded in death by his oldest daughter Mary Colleen Wenthe and a sister, Jean Hughes.