In memoriam: Ray Conroe, PhD

Gary Schoener, former executive director at Walk-In, writes the following about Ray Conroe, who recently passed away:

Ray (pictured at center with team members) served as our Clinic Director during the second half of the 1980’s and has stayed connected for the past 40 years.  He was an active participant in the Walk-In event at the end of 2025, Resilient We Rise: An Intimate Discussion and we spent the evening at the same table.

Ray received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology in 1970 (State University of New York at Buffalo). He was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and after his time at Walk-In went into private practice and was a Psychology Consultant for Disability Determination Services, Minnesota Dept. of Jobs and Training.

It was Ken Klein, one of his colleagues at DDS, who alerted me to Ray’s untimely death.  DDS will be doing a memorial to Ray at a future date. Ray was a beloved member of their staff for a number of decades.

Ray was a co-author of Walk-In’s 838-page text Psychotherapists’ Sexual Involvement With Clients: Intervention and Prevention (Schoener, Milgrom, Gonsiorek, Luepker, & Conroe, 1969). He ran a course on short term therapy & community psychology in the Clinical Psychology Training Program (University of Minnesota) which was taught at Walk-In.

He mentored many graduate students, but most of all he was a wonderful part of the Walk-In effort, as both staff member and volunteer.

Janet Schank, one of the interns he supervised, and on whose doctoral exam committee Ray sat, remembers him fondly:

Ray was definitely the most significant positive force in my training, beginning with my first day as a WICC volunteer through my WICC internship.  He had a way of knowing just when to provide positive feedback and when to kindly (but firmly) let me know where I needed to improve. … I can still hear his laugh, and I remember just how he looked when he would smile and put his head down when I did something stupid. … We were all so very lucky to have Ray in our lives!