Gillooly Funeral Home

The Gillooly Funeral Home has been a fixture in the town of Norwood for 126 years. Founded in 1892 by John Gillooly and later joined by his son William, they operated the funeral home for many years helping families through very difficult times with compassionate, professional and personal service. In 1946, following the death of William Gillooly, the business was purchased by William Crowley. The Crowley Family ran the funeral home with the same service and compassion until 1996 when the home was purchased by Dignity Memorial. John Murphy served as the general manager until 2007 and then in 2008 Frederick Wobrock assumed the position.

Along with Frederick, the caring and professional Gillooly team is comprised of many Norwood natives. These include Jean Turchan, Office Manager, Brian Clougher Senior Funeral Assistant, Tara O’Brien, Funeral Director, Ashley Simon Bell and Amy Alexander, apprentices, and David Comeau, decedent care and preparation. The dedicated part-time Funeral Assistants are Jerry Miller, Len Norton, Ron Lanzoni, Bill Sullivan, Neil Murphy, Bill Mee, Carlos Lopez, Joe Curran, Randy Belanger, and Terese Tierney. Notable past employees include, Les LeBlanc, Paul Fulton, Ray Martin and Bill Chandler.

In addition to providing their funeral and memorial services to the Norwood community and beyond, the Gillooly staff is very involved in charity and volunteerism in the Town. They can be found at events like Norwood Day, planning Senior Bus trips to awesome destinations around New England and making donations to Norwood organizations, including but not limited to: the Norwood Circle of Hope Foundation, Norwood High School Athletic Hall of Fame, The Norwood Scholarship Foundation, Norwood Police and Fire Associations, Norwood Senior Center, Norwood Little League, Friends of Norwood Hockey, Norwood Nuggets Youth Hockey, Norwood Basketball Association, Norwood Parents Music Association, Norwood Football Parents Group, Norwood Booster Club, St. Catherine of Siena School, Norwood Food Pantry, Christopher Catanese Children’s Foundation, Norwood Gridiron Club, Norwood Diamond Club, The Kibby Cup, Blue Hills Regional Athletics and Norwood VFW.

Each year, Gillooly’s awards two Norwood High School seniors with $1000 scholarships. These students are chosen based on two letters of recommendation and an essay about how they displayed leadership, compassion and helpfulness within their school or community. They similarly award St. Catherine of Siena School with a $1500 scholarship to be given at the discretion of the principal. In addition to these scholarships, they also run the Tools for Norwood Schools drive where all of the items collected are donated directly back to Norwood students.

Outside of their direct work with the Norwood community, Gillooly’s sponsors the Boston Children’s Bloodmobile which collects blood for patients at Boston Children’s Hospital. They host seminars such as, “Demystifying the Funeral Experience,” for hospice nurses and social workers which offer CEU credits towards their licensure. It is for these reasons and many more that, The Friends of St. Nick are honored to name Gillooly Funeral Home our 2018 People of the Year.