Joan Conway, hospital caseworker

Joan Bonner Conway, 88, of Haverford, retired director of the department of social work at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, died of a blood clot Saturday at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood.

Dr. Conway began her career during World War II as a caseworker in military hospitals, including Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington and the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. After the war, she was a caseworker in hospitals in the Philadelphia area.

She shared memories of those early years with an Inquirer reporter in 1998. Before Medicare and Social Security disability programs, and at a time when many people didn't have hospital insurance, "you had to look all over to find money to help people," she said. "You had to know all the tiny organizations available."

In 1958, Dr. Conway became the first director of the social-services department at the new Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. Twelve years, later she was appointed leader of HUP's social-work department. She was also an adjunct professor in Penn's School of Social Work and School of Medicine. She retired in 1987.

Active in several professional organizations, Dr. Conway was a past president of the Philadelphia Area Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. She received the chapter's lifetime achievement award in 1996.

In 1998, she expressed concern that some hospitals were considering eliminating social-work departments. There was an urgent need for social workers, she told The Inquirer, because "catastrophic illness can mess up all interpersonal relationships." And she said doctors and nurses often didn't have time to pay attention to patients as people and individuals.

Dr. Conway served on the boards of the Philadelphia chapters of the American Heart Association and March of Dimes, the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Community Health Affiliates, and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

A native of Baltimore, Dr. Conway graduated from St. Leonard's Academy in West Philadelphia and earned a bachelor's degree from Rosemont College. She earned a master's degree in social work from Catholic University of America and a doctorate in social work from Penn.

In 1968, she married Thomas Agnew Conway, a widower with three children. He died six months later. She became very close to his children, the youngest of whom was 17. She was also close to her three nieces and their families, and took cruises and traveled abroad with relatives.

In addition to her nieces, Dr. Conway is survived by stepsons Francis and Thomas Conway Jr.; a stepdaughter, Deborah Potter; and eight grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John Neumann Church, 330 Highland Lane, Bryn Mawr, where friends may call after 9:30. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Malachy Church, 1429 N. 11th St., Philadelphia 19122.