George J. Gillen died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on March 1, 2024 at the V.A. Hospital in West Roxbury after a period of declining health. He was 90.
A self-described “Depression baby,” George was born on July 24, 1933, in Boston. His father, George E. Gillen, cleaned railroad cars and his mother, Elizabeth P. Gillen, was a housewife and sometime film inspector. In addition to having two sons and three daughters, Elizabeth was the guardian for her niece, “and we always had a couple of cousins living with us,” George recounted in a 2023 Veterans Administration oral history project.
George’s family lived in Dorchester before moving to the projects in Charlestown. When he was 11, George sold copies of the Boston Herald in Scolley Square until, his niece Linda Sullivan said, “he was arrested for selling newspapers underage and cutting competitors’ prices at the Howard, a local burlesque house.” He was also cited for shining shoes underage and taken to court, where he promised to get the appropriate license when he reached the legal age of 12. He always gave half his earnings to his mother.
After eight years in a parochial school, George trained as a printer at Roxbury Memorial High School, which at the time was a trade school. He graduated at 16.
“I went to work the next day,” he said in his oral history, “and I worked in the same printing shop, M.J. Govone, for 50 years,” eventually owning the business.
“At some point everyone in the family worked at M.J. Govone,” Linda said in her eulogy, “where you could be hired, quit, get fired, and then rehired all in the same week, depending on how much work there was. Even his mother got fired once.”
George’s work at the print shop was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army in May 1953. He served as a cannoneer in Battery C of the 268th Field Artillery Battalion toward the end of the Korean War, where, he said, “I manned the guns.” His unit, he added, “had the capability of firing atomic shells.” Fortunately, they didn’t have any to fire.
Even while serving overseas, George remained dedicated to the printing shop. “He was moonlighting for it while he was in the Army,” Linda said. “The Govone sisters would send him work, and he would complete it and dutifully send it back.” He left the Army in 1955 with a Korea Service Medal, U.N. Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.
Once home, George returned to printing. “I really didn’t have any hobbies outside of work,” George said. “The shop was my mistress, and I worked my tail off all of my life.” The business “never grossed more than $200,000 a year,” George said, “but I did it all with a high school diploma. Everyone worked hard.”
Beginning in 1971, George rented a room in a cottage colony in Provincetown for $20 a week, Linda said. When the cottages were converted to condos in the 1990s, George bought one named the Penguin, and after his retirement in 1999, he spent his summers there.
“Every year on his birthday the family would go to Provincetown and have bologna and cheese sandwiches and birthday cake with him and his friends Vicki and Liz on the deck at his cottage,” Linda said. “Provincetown was truly his happy place.”
George loved to sit on the bench in front of the library for what his family called “office hours.” He would spend his mornings with a cup of coffee talking with passersby, making phone calls, or sharing insights with curious tourists. He never missed his “nooner,” the daily Provincetown AA meeting, where he was a sponsor who celebrated 30 years of sobriety this past year.
“George had a husky voice on the outside, but that covered a sweet nature on the inside,” said Norman Dunnell. “He welcomed everyone he met to join the club. He was a bridge builder. He knew people his own age that were born in Provincetown but also those just coming into town. He was wicked smart but in a quiet way.”
George was well read in history and traveled to Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Austria, and Puerto Rico, where he especially enjoyed historic sites and collecting statuettes. He also bought paintings from local artists or bartered printing services for paintings; the walls of his Boston home are covered with his collection.
George is survived by his sister, Barbara Sullivan of Dorchester, brother John Gillen and wife Shirley of Plymouth, and brother-in-law James Macdonald of Hyde Park, in addition to his niece Linda Sullivan of Boston and many other nieces, nephews, and friends.
He was predeceased by his sisters Joan O’Connell and Elizabeth Macdonald.
A Mass of Christian Burial at St. Anne’s Church in Readville and interment at Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury took place on March 6, 2024.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in George’s honor to the Boston VA Hospital.
