Audry Conley, longtime Malibu resident, died at home on Dec 18, 2018, surrounded by her family.
Audry was born to Milton and Amelia Garside in Paterson, N.J., on May 24, 1928, and relocated to Quincy, Mass., when she was five years old. The family then settled in East Weymouth, Mass., where Audry graduated from Weymouth High School in 1946. She married John Arthur “Art” Conley on Jan 18, 1947, and they headed to California, where Art had signed on for college as a veteran on the G.I. Bill. After Art graduated from San Diego State College in 1952, they moved to Oxnard, where he went to work at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station. In 1954, they settled in Canoga Park in their first home, and Art went to work at Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo.
Audry was very busy with their four children and active in their church and school activities, including Little League, Girl Scouts, Indian Guides and Jr. Lifeguards. She and Art were avid dancers, including square dancing and ballroom, as well as bowling, her family shared.
In 1962, they moved the family to Malibu in order to have all their children in the same parochial school, and again, Audry was very involved with church and school and even established the weekly hot lunch program at OLM. She also coached the girls volleyball team.
At age 45, when her youngest child was in junior high, Audry went to work at the Bank of America at the Pt. Dume Branch, where she was (and still is) known as ‘the bank lady.’ She retired in 1988 as a senior financial officer and had a very successful career. Both she and Art were called back to work after retiring and worked another five years before they retired for good and decided to sell their Malibu home. In 1996, they sold their home in Malibu and bought the “house on the hill” in Camarillo. Art’s “playground” was the five-car garage and Audry had more garden than she ever dreamed of, including seven avocado trees. When Art passed in 2008, Audry sold the house and a family member said she spent her remaining years in Leisure Village in Camarillo, playing bingo three times a week, tending her garden with Jerry’s help and riding her three-wheel bike.
Audry is survived by her daughter, Sheri Perry; her grandson, Terry Perry; her son, Jerry Conley and wife, Kim—all from Malibu; Eniko Conley and Robert of Westlake Village; her brother, Wayne Garside of Sun Valley, Calif.; her half sister, Nicky Buchanan of Maine; her half sister, Linda Dimitris of Pennsylvania; and many nieces and nephews. Audry was preceded in death by her son Gary in 1988, her son Kerry in 2007 and her husband Art in 2008. An interment will be held at the Winslow Cemetery Family plot in Marshfield, Mass., in June.
There will be a celebration of life at Our Lady of Malibu Church on Feb. 2 at 1 p.m., followed by a luncheon in the Parish Hall.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in memory of Audry L. Conley.