John Armistead "Jack" Conway Jr

John (Jack) Armistead Conway, Jr. died peacefully on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 after a full and rewarding life. He was 81 years old.

The son of John (Jack) A. Conway, Sr. and Jeanne Ann Conway, he was born on June 20, 1944, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The oldest of three children, Jack spent much of his youth at the family's home at Eagle Lake in Warren County, where, surrounded by a rotating cast of cousins, aunts, uncles, and a notorious and beloved grandmother (Big Stella) he enjoyed a uniquely Southern way of life that was both idyllic and eccentric.

After graduating from then Cooper High School, he attended Mississippi State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Soon after graduating, in August of 1964, Jack married the love of his life, Sigrid Elizabeth Andre', a fellow Vicksburg native with whom he had shared a childhood kiss many years before under a floating dock at Eagle Lake. The couple was wed at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and honeymooned in New Orleans, which would remain their favorite travel destination throughout life.

Jack and Sigrid had their first child, John Armistead Conway III, in late 1966 and soon after, the family moved back to Starkville, where Jack completed his Master of Science in Civil Engineering.

But his engineering degrees would be put to a new and different use: emerging computer technology. Witnessing the massive growth of IBM in the post-war decades, Jack went to work for the company in 1968. There he received training in a number of internal IBM schools across the country and acquired the skills that would pave the way for a successful long-term career in computing.

Upon returning to Jackson in 1969, Sigrid and Jack had a second son, Carl Andre' Conway, and Jack went to work in the data management field, first for a large construction firm and then for a data processing service company. As a computer programmer, his work was done on early IBM mainframe computers, each as large as a room, where data was stored using Hollerith punch cards and large reel-to-reel tapes. Massive ashtrays and piles of plastic coffee cups were evidence of his tireless work ethic. Amazingly, he would quit smoking cold-turkey many years later.

In 1978, Jack took a leap of faith and with his smart, beautiful bookkeeper and receptionist (Sigrid), started his own business, Conway Computer Consultants (later Conway Computer Group) serving clients' data management needs. By 1987 the company had grown and became an official IBM business partner, helping to market and sell IBM computers on which CCG's software ran. These proprietary software products were so important to clients that they would often buy the IBM computer just so they could run the software. In 1988, the company tripled in size and Jack Conway was named IBM's National Agent of the Year! By 1994 Conway Computer Group and its subsidiaries had over 70 employees, with clients across the country including United Van Lines, the State of Alaska, the Kroger Company and the New Orleans Saints. The company was acquired by Nichols Research Corporation in 1995.

Jack was civic-minded and was a longtime member of the North Jackson chapter of the Rotary Club, where he was named a Harris Fellow for his many contributions in the club. He was also honored to serve on Jackson's Employee Benefits and Consultants arm of the Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. After retirement, Jack found great joy helping kids learn to read as a Book Buddy at McLeod Elementary School and his heart swelled as he described his buddies' progress.

He adored his family, and even when the budget was tight, he and Sigrid found creative ways to still take their boys on vacations and give Christmas gifts, that while not the newest or most expensive toys, were cherished nonetheless-for instance one year converting their garage into a playroom with a homemade train track.

Jack was an encouraging and supportive father who taught his sons to embrace new challenges and take risks in life. He coached his sons' baseball teams, and photos from the era suggest that he was implementing another creative cost-saving solution for the Conways: eliminating haircuts. Jack even took a turn as a substitute soccer coach for John's 5th grade team in 1978, committing eagerly to the role, but then calling Sigrid in a panic: "Meet me at the schoolyard, and bring the S encyclopedia!" (Soccer being practically unknown to most Mississippians then).

Jack was blessed with two grandchildren, Benjamin Armistead Conway and Julia Rivers Conway, whom he loved immensely and spoiled regularly (austerity measures going out-the-window as they so often do where grandchildren are concerned).

He was active and present in every aspect of their lives, relishing the opportunity to babysit them and serving as personal chauffeur each afternoon from school, often stopping at the neighborhood Sonic before heading home to oversee homework by the swimming pool. Jack and Sigrid instilled civic responsibility in their grandchildren, taking them to Democratic Party functions and on one occasion excusing them from school in order to attend a speech by a young Senator Barack Obama. Together they also attended Episcopal Diocesan Councils across the state each year and even travelled to the Church's 2009 General Convention in Anaheim, CA, with Jack serving as an alternate lay delegate from Mississippi.

Jack and Sigrid never missed a swim meet, cross country meet, school speech or award ceremony for their beloved grandchildren, and they found their way to every high school basketball gymnasium and softball field in central Mississippi to cheer on Julia as she competed. Serving as the family travel agent, Jack arranged countless trips with his children and grandchildren, including an extended tour of Italy that, by exploiting loopholes and spending hours on the telephone with the travel concierge, he paid for almost entirely with credit card points, long before the internet offered guidance on such tactics.

Jack was a lifelong Episcopalian, first attending Holy Trinity Church in Vicksburg, and upon moving to Starkville after college, attending the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, where he and Sigrid served as leaders of the EYC. When Jack and his young family settled in Jackson in 1969, he, Sigrid and the kids joined a small parish: St. Philip's Episcopal Church. That church and its parishioners became the Conways' larger family, a serene and sacred space and community where Jack and his family celebrated the joy of God's welcoming love, peace and support for over 57 years.

Jack loved his church with all his heart and soul, serving his parish in every conceivable way: on the vestry, with terms as Junior and Senior Warden, chairman of capital campaigns, chair of new Rector search committees, an usher, lay reader, delegate to Diocesan Annual Council, and as St. Nicholas each Christmas for 15+ years. He and Sigrid especially loved the children of the church and were nursery volunteers until the last Spring of his life (Jack was sometimes called the Baby Whisperer for his ability to calm a crying infant.) When asked by the Bishop, Jack was honored to serve as the Interim Executive Director of Gray Center, the Mississippi Episcopal Diocese's camp and conference center. And when the Church was embroiled in debate over the ordination of LGBT clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions, Jack was outspoken in his belief that all God's children must be welcomed.

With his career behind him, Jack took up golf and enjoyed playing with dear friends, first at Canton Country Club and later at the Country Club of Jackson, where he prided himself on helping organize his group's weekly tee times and rounds. (He had two different hole-in-ones on the CCJ course!) Jack also served as president of the Country Club of Jackson's homeowners association. A life-long animal lover, Jack found his final pet, a beautiful grey kitten he and Julia named Ellie, in the Country Club neighborhood, and she remained his not-so-friendly but always faithful companion until his death.

Jack is preceded in death by his sister, Jeanne Ann Kotis; and his son, Carl Andre' Conway, and is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sigrid Elizabeth (Andre') Conway; his brother James (Jim) Eustace Conway; his son, John Armistead Conway III; his grandchildren Benjamin Armistead Conway, of New Orleans, Louisiana; Julia Rivers Conway, of Atlanta, Georgia; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to "Andre's Fund," part of the Mississippi Diocese's Episcopal Recovery Program at The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, P.O. Box 23107, Jackson, MS, 39225; St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 5400 Old Canton Road, Jackson, MS 39211; or to any charities that support the City of Jackson's youth.