John L. Quigley, Soldiers' Home commandant, 80
DGH
John Lawlor Quigley, who succeeded his father as commandant of the
Chelsea Soldiers' Home, died of cancer Thursday, January 23, 2003, in a
hospital named after his father, at the age of 80.
Mr. Quigley was commandant of the Chelsea Soldiers' Home and Quigley
Memorial Hospital, also located in Chelsea, from 1948 to 1980. His
father Lawrence F. Quigley, a former 11-term Chelsea, Massachusetts,
mayor, was commandant of the facility for the preceding 14 years.
The Soldiers' Home opened in 1882 in the former Highland Park Hotel. At
first it was simply a home for destitute Civil War veterans. A hospital
was added later and the home now treats more than 10,000 outpatients a
year and has beds for about 500 veterans in its hospital and
dormitories.
"We take over where the Veterans Administration hospitals leave off,"
Mr. Quigley said of the state-run facility in a story published in the
Globe on May 24, 1964.
"It's the type of institution that takes people by generations, by
wars," he said. "When I first came, there were 98 veterans of the
Spanish-American War there. At that time, they needed a home, some
needed a nursing home. It was 50 years after the war."
Then came the veterans of World War I, who needed similar services.
"World War II, was a more total war," said Mr. Quigley, "so we had
people with a broad range of ages then."
When the elder Quigley became commandant of the facility, he lived in
the commandant's house, a 19-room brick mansion on the 17-acre grounds
atop Powderhorn Hill, where the Minutemen tended to their wounded during
the Battle of Bunker Hill. When his son took over, he raised his
children there too.
"In the hallways, you'd see profoundly disabled people," his daughter,
Jan Quigley McGinn of Concord, said yesterday. "I think I was off to
college before I realized that it wasn't normal."
McGinn recalled her family watching with great interest the construction
of the Prudential building in Boston from their hilltop perch.
The home also had its disadvantages. For Mr. Quigley, work was never far
away. "You could say he worked 24/7," said his daughter. "When he wasn't
at the veterans home he was at the State House begging for money for the
veterans. But he loved it. He devoted his life to public service, which
was the family business."
In his spare time, Mr. Quigley enjoyed weeding rose bushes on the
grounds. He also enjoyed snowstorms, when he got behind the wheel of a
tractor and helped the staff clear the snow off the steep road to the
facility.
A graduate of Georgetown University, Mr. Quigley served in the Marine
Corps during World War II. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his service
during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
After earning a law degree at Boston College in 1952, he ran
unsuccessfully for the State House of Representatives.
"Losing that race was the best thing that ever happened to veterans,"
said Thomas Rosa, director of Human Resources at the Soldier's Home. "He
treated them like family and he treated the employees like family too.
Long after he retired, he was still coming up from his home on the Cape
to attend retirement parties."
innerp...@gmail.com
So very nice to see this post. I’m John’s nephew, the youngest one.. Great to hear the history!
Thank you!!
Graham Quigley
510.912.8184