Conley Earl Ward

Conley Earl Ward, Jr.
1947-2013
"A measure of a life is not how you live, but how you die."
- Montaigne
(quoted by Conley
two days before he died)
Conley Ward died on October 28, 2013, from leukemia. He died in the company of his beloved wife, children, and grandchildren. He was opinionated, driven, and very bright, but more importantly honest, compassionate, and modest. Though his accomplishments were vast and monumental his family always came first.
Conley was born in Nampa, mostly raised on a farm in the Opaline area of Owyhee County and went to school in Notus, Marsing, and Vallivue. His father and mother both came from ranching families and he would come to describe himself as an "agrarian populist."
He went to Columbia University and, according to Chris Jensen, a fellow Columbia student, he was "Idaho to the core but welcomed every challenge that New York threw at him." Pat Ford, another Idahoan at Columbia, said, "He was a great friend, the central one around whom many of the Idaho boys orbited."
New York was a hotbed of blues, country, and folk music in the 1960s, and the love of music that he had fostered since childhood flourished.
He earned his law degree at the University of Colorado. There he met Gail Fleischer, his wife of 42 years. He returned to Idaho and became an attorney for the Public Utilities Commission. He was instrumental in preventing a coal-fired power plant from being built near Boise.
He became, at age 29, the youngest public utilities commissioner in the country and sought to keep hydropower strong and rates low with, in Jeff Fereday's words, "a calm intelligent use of facts that the region's political power brokers did not want to hear."
Former Governor Cecil Andrus said of Conley, "There have been few more influential voices on Idaho and regional energy issues in the last 40 years. He had a deep concern for the little guy."
Later he was involved with the development of Syringa Networks, which extended broadband access to rural Idaho, an enterprise that was not lucrative to the large telephone companies. Michael Creamer said, "Syringa was largely Conley's brainchild."
When he served as the Idaho State Democratic Party chairman from 1988 to 1991, the Idaho State Senate was split 20-20, two of the four congressional seats were Democrats, the governor was a Democrat. The 1990 election changed the dynamics of Idaho politics. Though a staunch Democrat, Conley was not dismissive of the Republicans he opposed. He admired many Republicans who had honesty and integrity.
The gist of this was an uncommon man serving the common man.
And Conley was tough. Jerry Piper of Cambridge Telephone said, "He could step on your shoes while he straightened your tie." Rick Greenfield and Mike Mikesell remarked once about Conley as a football player, "He wasn't the fastest or most athletic, but he was so into it. He hit." He brought a love of the Broncos—Denver and Boise State—to his family, and while finesse and talent were admired, the unforgivable sin was a lack of effort.
He coached youth league baseball and taught boys how to play and, moreover, to believe in themselves.
He had a passion for fly-fishing, gardening, golf, and reading. He was in the family business of racing horses and usually was the first to eschew the horseman's eternal and necessary optimism by saying, "That horse is a nag."
His generosity and wit came as natural as breathing.
Conley is survived by his wife Gail, sons Ian (Dorota) and Tyler (Dina), three grandchildren, mother Eloise Ward, brothers Dudley, Cotton, Clay, and sister Janie Ward-Engelking, plus many nephews, nieces, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father Conley Ward, Sr.
Conley's ashes, per his wishes, will be scattered at an unspecified date near Opaline.
An open house wake will be held on Saturday, November 16th, at Barber Park Event Center from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please donate to The Idaho Food Bank, his favorite charity, and a frequent recipient of truckloads of produce from his extensive garden.
Google can't find the poet of this last line. Con probably could.
"After so much life, so little death."