Editor’s observe: On Sundays, The Herald-Mail publishes “A Life Remembered.” Every story on this persevering with sequence takes a glance again — by the eyes of household, buddies, co-workers and others — at a member of the group who died lately. Right now’s “A Life Remembered” is about Michael E. Conway Sr., who died Feb. 28 on the age of 73. Conway’s obituary was revealed on The Herald-Mail web site on March 19.
Mike Conway’s son recalled how his father yearned for a life that was uniquely his.
He did it, serving to to run one of Hagerstown’s busiest kitchens in the famed Venice inn at 431 Twin Freeway in Hagerstown.
Mike was a sous-chef on the lodge, working alongside Bob Vidoni in shelling out tons of of Italian and American-style entrees for packed nights on the restaurant that might seat 200.
‘A recent begin’
Mike’s son, Michael Conway II, of Charles City, W.Va., defined how his dad made it to Hagerstown round 1970. He obtained into some hassle and ended up incarcerated on the Maryland Correctional Establishment-Hagerstown. Upon launch, he contemplated his future.
“He knew he wanted a recent begin and he determined to do this in Hagerstown,” his son stated.
Jobs within the restaurant enterprise had been plentiful then, and Mike jumped in, falling in love with the craft.
He was born Jan. 10, 1949, in Trappe on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Based on household historical past, his dad was the primary Black man to personal a gasoline station within the Talbot County city.
The Venice Inn
Mike’s first restaurant job in Hagerstown was most likely on the Venice Inn beginning in about 1980, his son stated. He started perfecting his cooking expertise there and loved making ready prime rib and seafood like blue crabs and crab desserts.
“He was a superb cook dinner at every part,” his son stated.
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The time period sous-chef means the second in command in a kitchen. At one time, 140 individuals labored on the Venice Inn restaurant.
“We had been so busy,” Bob Vidoni stated in a 2014 interview with Herald-Mail Media. Bob and his brother Richard ran the enterprise after their dad and mom, who had been from Italy, began it. It was a preferred place for space group service organizations to carry occasions, and there have been generally two or three of them utilizing a banquet space on the identical time.
The power additionally provided 220 visitor rooms, a ballroom that might host 650 individuals and a nightclub with seating for 230. The Vidoni household bought the enterprise in 1998 and right now it is the place the Baymont by Wyndham Hagerstown operates.
‘From the old-fashioned’
Bob Vidoni’s spouse Dolores stated Mike was a really gratifying employee to have within the kitchen. At one level, a cousin of Bob’s who was a chef in Argentina got here to work on the restaurant, and he and Bob and Mike labored collectively on dishes, she stated.
Dolores stated she thinks Mike labored there for about 10 years.
“I do know Bob actually appreciated to have him working there as a result of he was from the old-fashioned,” stated Dolores, explaining that Mike understood the worth of a robust work ethic.
His son additionally touched on his dad’s recognition.
“Dad was at all times a high-quality gentleman. He spoke to everybody within the room. Everybody knew who Mike Conway was,” he stated.
After the Venice Inn, Mike moved on to Chambersburg’s Copper Kettle and fashioned plenty of robust friendships at that restaurant by the Nineteen Nineties, his son stated. The Copper Kettle is called the “Home of Prime Rib” and for its sandwiches, seafood and high quality cocktails.
Clever with age
Mike, who lived on Guilford Avenue near Hagerstown Metropolis Park, had seven kids. And he confronted robust occasions, like when his daughter Monza Conway died at age 12 from leukemia, in line with his son. That was within the Eighties when most cancers therapy was not practically as superior as it’s right now, he stated.
One other daughter, Misty Conway, died at beginning.
Mike’s son stated he watched his dad evolve from wilder days in his youth to a sensible man later in life, one thing that impacted him.
“It was one thing that impressed me and nonetheless evokes me,” stated the youthful Conway, who’s a upkeep chief on the Procter & Gamble plant within the Tabler Station Enterprise Park south of Martinsburg, W.Va.
Mike was an enormous fan of the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles and loved a “host of grandchildren,” his obituary stated. He was additionally blessed to have the ability to see great-grandchildren.
He’s buried at Relaxation Haven Cemetery alongside Pennsylvania Avenue.
