Gordon Clarence Conley: 1923 — 2015
Gordon Clarence Conley died of natural causes October 26, 2015 at 92. He was born February 25, 1923 in a Denver hospital to Nell Campbell, a housewife, and Clarence “Curley,” a mechanical engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. His mother’s birthplace was Falmouth, Kentucky; his father’s, Richmond, Virginia.
Gordon attended school in Denver, working weekends during high school to save money for flying lessors. In the early summer of 1942, he was licensed as a Student Pilot. He started college at the University of Denver in 1941, but in September 1942 joined the war effort and became a Naval Aviation Cadet. He did his pre-flight through operational-flight and air-engineering training for 21 months at naval stations in California, Washington, Texas, Florida and Tennessee. He was appointed Naval Aviator and Air Engineering Officer in April 1944 and commissioned Ensign. His first assignments were at naval stations in Kingston and Corpus Christi, Texas.
In September 1945, he was assigned to active duty on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, already patrolling waters in the Pacific. There, he piloted Grumman TBFs (Torpedo Bomber Fighters) with two crewmen, one in the turret and the other in the belly. They flew missions to hunt and sink surfaced Japanese submarines by moonlight. After nearly four years, he separated from the Navy in July 1946 with an honorable discharge. Recognition for his service was signed by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, from the office of President Harry S. Truman.
Gordon served in the reserve until 1959, resigning as a Lieutenant JG from Floyd Bennet Field Naval Air Station in Brooklyn as an Aviation Engineer. At home in the last two years of his life, every day he watched “Midway,” a film about the turning point in the war in the Pacific.
Gordon was graduated by Denver University in August of 1948 with a degree in journalism. His first peacetime job was as a reporter for the Colorado Springs Free Press. Then, United Press International – from 1949 to 1953, first in Denver and then in New York. After UPI, he represented the aviation accounts of Walker & Crenshaw, and then Frank Shea Associates as VP. The highpoints of this time were Gordon’s work on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and a French company, Sud Aviation, on the Caravelle, the first short/medium range jet liner. He took the Caravelle, often as its only passenger, on its maiden voyage in the U.S. to major cities throughout the country to airport news conferences he organized to introduce the new Jet to travel writers and other journalists. Many were the first in the U.S. to ride in a Jet. From there, he worked for McGraw Hill’s Aviation Week as associate editor, and then to J. Walter Thompson for 18 years on its travel accounts, including Kodak, and recruitment for the Marine Corp. He won medical accounts as a SVP that included Bausch & Lomb, G.D. Searle, and Eli Lilly. In 1983, he left JWT to freelance for a variety of clients, including the recruitment agency — Joseph A. Davis & Associates, the graphic design agency Art Kramer & Associates, and reporting the news for Genomic Health, Inc. and Wholepoint, Inc. He didn’t stop working until he was 89.
Gordon is survived by his wife of 40 years, Beverly Ann Simons, and her daughter, Karen Jo Moyer Malpass; her daughter, Jonas Howell, and son, George Bowman Cooke. Gordon is predeceased by his parents and sister, Cam Lyle, and survived by his niece, Jean Claudia Abbot Miller, her husband Jack Allison and their children, Kirk Patrick and Chandi Alicia Miller Beck. Gordon was previously married and had two children, Christine Merriitt — who predeceased him, and Claudia Sherwood.
Gordon loved the news and in New York, musicals, restaurant dining, and entertaining; and at home tennis, sailing, skiing, reading, his church, his home and its care, his dogs – George, Jamie and Fiona, and most of all, his family.
Memorial services will be held November 21, 2015 at 1 PM at Christ Church on Quaker Hill, 17 Church Road, Pawling NY 12564. Gordon will be interred with full military honors in the Norman Vincent & Ruth Stafford Peale Remembrance Garden on the church grounds. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the church (845 855 1188) OR to the Mid-Hudson Animal Aid Sanctuary (845 831 4321), 54 Simmons Lane, Beacon, NY 12508.
Arrangements were under the direction of the Horn & Thomes, Inc. Funeral Home, 83 East Main Street, Pawling, NY.
To leave an online condolence, please visit www.hornandthomesfuneralhome.
