Thomas M. McGuigan

Waltham – Mr. Thomas M. McGuigan, of Waltham, died Monday, August 20, 2012 at the E.N. Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford. He was 91.

Tom was born in Millville, New Brunswick on March 7, 1921, the second of six children born to the late Herbert A. and Ruby (Golding) McGuigan. The family moved to the United States when Tom was three years old and settled in Waltham.

He graduated from the Waltham Trade School and went to work as a metalsmith for the Lewis & Sheppard Company in Watertown. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II and a couple of weeks past his twenty-first birthday he joined the United States Navy where he served for the duration of the war as an aviation ordnanceman.

After his discharge in 1946 he took up the building trades and became a carpenter for the rest of his life. He had been a longtime member of Local 275 of the Carpenters Union. Tom was also the designated family and friends fixer-upper, capable of building or fixing anything around the house.

His wife of 57 years, Marjorie E. (MacNeill) McGuigan, died September 26, 2008.

Tom leaves his children, David F. McGuigan and his wife, Kathleen, of Boxford, Donna M. Caira and her husband, Richard, and Susan E. McCarthy and her husband, Jimmy, all of Waltham; his grandchildren, Meghan and Kimberly Caira and Jeffrey McCarthy and many nieces and nephews.

He was also a brother of the late Herbert A. McGuigan, Jr., Nita Tracy, Muriel Bradbury, Shirley Clancy and Myrtle Kershaw.

Family and friends will honor and remember Tom's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Sunday, August 26th, from 2 to 5 p.m. and again at 11 a.m. on Monday morning when his funeral service will be held. Burial will follow in Mount Feake Cemetery, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to Volunteer Services, VA Boston Healthcare System, 1400 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, MA 02132.