Charles Gerald McGuinness

He moved to Monaghan, Ireland when he was 11 years old. He showed an early aptitude for engineering and “making things” while working at a local farm, starting at 14 years of age, a skill that would later serve him well in his business ventures both in Ireland and in the US. It was during these early years that he met his future bride, Bridget Mulligan, a Monaghan native and nursing school student. He is reported to have wooed her by becoming a regular at her mother’s café in Monaghan town. And apparently he was an avid letter writer as this is how they maintained their relationship while she finished school in London.

After marriage and emigrating to the Bronx, NY in 1956, Gerald first ran a gas station and then opted to become a bus driver while also starting a family with their first daughter, Ann. What should have been an ordinary emigration story was complicated when the bus he was driving was hit by a drunk driver. Gerald was told he had a broken neck and would never walk again.

Luckily that wasn’t the case, but the solution required a return home to Ireland and several spinal surgeries which prompted the couple to stay in Monaghan. Happily this decision also prompted the arrival of their second daughter, Laura Carmel. Not only was Gerald able to walk again but his resulting decision to stay in Ireland was followed by a decision to build a horticultural business on his family land, next to his parents’ home. He worked hard to build a relatively large business and was well loved by neighbors, many of whom he employed either full time or seasonally. He also hosted some of the meanest card drives in town. He never said goodbye. He just offered one of his favorite sayings: “Don’t take any wooden nickels” or “good care takes the head off bad luck”

Gerald loved to design. He designed his own house in Ireland and later built a replica as a dollhouse for Carmel, aged four. He designed a large house specifically for growing mushrooms, but most enjoyed by his children and visiting nieces and nephews as a place to produce “concerts”. Gerald also designed many beautiful landscapes over the years in both Ireland and Long island, NY. His personal experience with neck braces led him to develop and obtain US and international patents for several adjustable neck braces. If you met Gerald anytime between 1985 and 1995, he probably fitted you for a neck brace, whether you needed one or not. It was impossible to be around him and not be affected by his extreme enthusiasm for whatever project he was engaged in, whether he had invented a new capillary system for irrigation of his perennial beds, or a new attachment for a neck brace.

With children finally heading off to college, Gerald returned to New York with Bridget where Laura attended college and Ann settled in CT with her husband, Patrick and their two children, Deirdre and Noel. He was a fun “Pops” throughout his grand children’s young lives and a supportive listener as they developed into young adults, with many interesting dinner conversations and, of course, card games. He and Bridget made the trip to Disney with Deirdre and Noel when they were 6 and 4. Approaching arthritis became a fun excuse to rent a “motorbike” for himself and Noel. When his own grandchildren went off to college he was given the gift of Ava, the little neighborhood girl Bridget nannied for in their home for 12 years and who eventually came to call Gerald “Pops”, just like his grown grand-children. She was a blessing in his old age and gave him the opportunity to become a “soccer dad” for the first time in his late eighties.

Gerald and Bridget were lucky to land in a neighborhood with caring people who have looked out for each other over the years, and now even more so during COVID times when many elderly people were afraid to go to hospital and some, unfortunately have lost loved ones to the virus. Gerald may have been weakened by approaching dementia, falls, and pain from arthritis but it didn’t weaken his resolve to stay in his own home until the end. He died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family.

Gerald was predeceased by his brothers Sean (New York), Joseph (Chicago), Gus (New York), and Desmond (Glasgow). He is survived by his loving wife Bridget and sisters Alice (New York) and Moira (South Carolina).

In Lieu of flowers, donations to St. Jude's Children Hospital are appreciated.