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The Life of James H. Conover

James H. Conover, 98, of Collingdale, PA, died March 13, 2018 at home.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, he had been a resident of Collingdale for over 60 years. Jim left school early to enlist in the Army during WW II. While serving in N. Africa he became a Prisoner of War, held at Stalag 28 in Western Prussia. Jim was the oldest surviving POW from WW II living in Delaware County.

Following his release from the Army, he became a bus driver/trolley operator retiring from Septa over 30 years ago. Known as “Snuffy” by his co-workers, most of his career was with Red Arrow and he also had worked for Southern Penn.

A member of St. Joe's Parish in Collingdale, his main focus was family. Working a swing shift allowed him to be home for lunch with his kids. Jim adored his wife of 67 years, Anna Coleman Conover and was happy to travel anywhere and everywhere with her. Always up for a new adventure, he would take the family roller skating and happily join in. What best describes him was his selflessness. Even in his last days concern for Anna getting out and having time away was important.

No greater tribute can be given to a man who served his country honorably, loved his bride of over a half century and to be called an "Awesome Dad" by his kids.

Survivors: include his wife, Anna; children, James (Linda) Conover, Karen (Chris Brown) Kralle, Lisa (the late Bill) Austin and Susan (Rick) Bradford.

He also leaves behind 9 loving grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Visitation:  6:00PM to 8:00PM Thursday evening, March 22nd at the Toppitzer Funeral Home at Arlington, 2900 State Rd. Drexel Hill.

There will be no visitation on Friday.

Service: Funeral Mass will be 11:00AM Friday, March 23, 2018, at St. Joseph Church, 500 Woodlawn Ave., Collingdale, PA. 19023

Interment: Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill, PA 19026

Condolences/online obituary:www.Arlingtoncemetery.us

 

 

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2018.03.18
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These are memories told to me by my grandfather, Paul Coleman. He had great love for Uncle Jim, and asked me to share his stories.

“When Jim first started seeing my sister it was in the last half of the 1940s. They got married in June of 1951. People used to call him Reds because of his red hair. He was like a big brother to Uncle Pat and me. He and Aunt Patsy took us to a lot of places that we would have not otherwise gotten to; they were very good to us. Shortly after they got married, they bought a really cool car. I was about eleven or twelve then and I thought it was so cool. Now that I’m older, I KNOW that it was really cool. It was a Buick Roadmaster convertible with real red leather seats and electric windows, which was impressive for the times. It had side spotlights like a cop car and huge fog lights on the front of the car, which all just added to the coolness of it. It was fantastic. They took us to the shore in that car many times with the top down. After they got married, they also moved to an apartment in Southwest Philly on the corner of 69th and Dyer Avenue. There was a candy store at bottom level of the building that they lived in, and Uncle Pat and I used to stay there a lot on weekends. They had hardwood floors and sectional living room furniture, and we used to sleep on the couches. During the night, the furniture would separate and we would fall through the cracks, which was always pretty funny. He was in the service. He was a prisoner of war and he never ever talked about anything that happened to him that was bad, but he always had a lot of funny stories to tell. We thought he was great, Uncle Pat and I, and he was. He was always really good to us. He was our brother-in-law, but really he was like our brother.”

Posted by Emily C on 03/19/2018