Gilbert E. Guerin Obituary
Gilbert Edmund Guerin (the gentlest of gentlemen and a friend to all who knew him) passed away unexpectedly at his Essex home of sixty-two years on January 8, 2024, he was 94.
Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts to Joseph A. and Louise Guerin, Gil grew up across the street from the Gloucester Fisherman's Statue on Stacy Boulevard. Gil attended Gloucester High School until joining the US Army at the age of 17, requiring a waiver from his mother to do so at that age. He was proud of his honorable service during the latter stages of World War II and witnessed the USS Missouri as it traveled through the Panama Canal on its way to the signing of surrender papers by the Japanese Empire.
Following his military service, Gil married Genevieve C. McDonald in 1952 and enjoyed a happy, fruitful 70+ years together while raising six children, with fourteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Gil was an accomplished and gifted musician. He played clarinet and the alto sax, and had an invitation to attend the New England Conservatory of Music before deciding on a more stable occupation with a growing family… pharmacy.
With the aid of the G.I. Bill, Gil attended the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, graduating in 1954 with a diploma and first child in hand. In 1960, Gil and his brother Joseph A. Guerin, opened Wedgwood Pharmacy in Essex, Massachusetts and together operated this local business for over forty years. Along with the Post Office, Burnham's Terminal Garage, FNBI and Joe's Market, Wedgwood Pharmacy was the center of Essex politics, news and commerce for years and was the home to the many championship trophies won by Essex baseball and muster teams.
Gil had a strong sense for public service, some in public view but others more privately. In addition to his military service, Gil spent nearly twenty years on the Essex and North Shore Vocational School Boards and had the privilege of conferring graduation diplomas to each of his six children during this time. When not working at the pharmacy, Gil served for years as the Essex Harbor Master and on the town Appeals Board. He also volunteered with the Massachusetts Civil Defense and US Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) programs. As a MARS volunteer, Gil would spend countless hours, oftentimes into the early morning, connecting service members overseas with their families across the United States through his ham radio system.
Away from work and service, Gil was in many ways a visionary ahead of his time. He built a MITS Altair 8080 personal computer in 1975, a year before the first Apple prototype, and went to the University of California, Berkeley, to attend an intensive course on programming it. At the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, a newer version of his Altair sits aside the original wooden computer carved by Apple's Jobs and Wozniak. Always the engineer and tinkerer, Gil was a curious and perpetual student.
In the early 1980's, Gil dreamed of building a wind turbine on his property in Essex, with which he envisioned making a home heating system that ran on hydrogen. Though this project never came to fruition, his 'wind to hydrogen' dream became a reality almost thirty years later in 2009 when the National Renewable Energy Labs in Colorado developed a prototype based on a similar idea.
Gil loved his family and friends deeply. He was the best father anyone could ever ask for. He cherished times spent with his six children and their children, and always exhibited great pride in their many accomplishments. He valued relationships with his poker buddies, bee keeping friends and especially his church coffee table crew and the 80 and over Men's coffee group that met every Tuesday at Woodman's. Gil was a quiet devout Catholic and together with Genevieve, attended St. John the Baptist Church in Essex for over sixty years where he served on committees and for which he baked his highly sought after homemade breads for church fundraising events.
Gil is preceded in death by his wife Genevieve, his parents Joseph and Louise, his brother Joseph, and his niece Emily.
Gil is survived by his sister-in-law Margaret (McDonald) Coronel and her husband Frank. He also leaves six children (Cheryl Campbell-Lucas and her husband Mike, Gilbert B. Guerin and his wife Lisa, Sheila and Bev Barnard, Lisa and Christopher Collins, John and Kristyne Guerin, and Christopher and Sharon Guerin); fourteen grandchildren (Christin Campbell-Isilay, Caitlin Campbell, Colin Campbell, Joseph Guerin, Allison Borowski, Genevieve Oni, William Barnard, Peter Collins, Nate Collins, James Collins, Jonathan Guerin, Gillian Guerin, Madeline Guerin, and Nicholas Guerin); five great-grandchildren (Gwendolyn and Juliette Campbell, KìnÌÚntèmi Oni, and Moira and Oscar Johnson, with one more on the way); and many other nieces and nephews.
A Wake will be held at the Greely Funeral Home, 212 Washington St., Gloucester, MA on Monday, January 15, 2024, from 2:00 to 7:00PM.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 52 Main St., Essex, MA and will be presided over by Father Paul Flammia on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, at 11:00AM. Burial will follow at the Spring St. Cemetery, Essex directly after.
