William F. Reilly, 73, of New Bedford died June 30, 2007 at Massachusetts General Hospital after a brief illness.
He was the husband of Pauline (Fernandes) Reilly.
Born in New Bedford, the son of the late Mary C. (Tighe) Reilly and Richard J. Reilly, he lived in New Bedford all of his life.
Mr. Reilly was formerly employed as a pipefitter with the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Local # 51 in East Providence until retirement.
He was a member of the Holy Name Church Couples Club and received his black belt in ju jit su. Mr. Reilly enjoyed traveling and spending time with his family. He was a handyman who enjoyed making repairs to his home and his children's homes.
Mr. Reilly attended New Bedford Vocational High School before graduating from New Bedford High School Evening Program in 1980.
Survivors include his wife; 2 daughters, Carol A. Rheaume, and her husband George, of Acushnet and Jane F. Reilly of Fairhaven; 2 sons, Patrick W. Reilly, and his wife Nancy, of New Bedford and Michael W. Reilly, and his companion Noreen Lareau, of Dartmouth' 5 grandchildren, Scott Charpentier, Eric Reilly, Lauren Rheaume, Thomas Rheaume and Ryan Rheaume; 2 aunts, Cecelia Helen McIntyre and Mary Glosol, both of New Bedford; several nieces and nephews; many cousins.
Funeral from the the Saunders-Dwyer Home For Funerals, 495 Park St. New Bedford Thursday, July 5th at 9 AM. Funeral Mass at Holy Name of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church at 10 AM. Burial will follow in Pine Grove Cemetery. Visiting hours Tuesday, July 3rd from 5-8 PM. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701.
EULOGY FOR BILL REILLY GIVEN BY MARGARET-MARY SUNDIN AT HIS FUNERAL MASS JULY 5, 2007
Good morning.
I am Margaret-Mary McIntyre Sundin.
William Francis Reilly, or we always call him, Bill, was my cousin and my godfather. His beloved wife Pauline has given me the great privilege of saying a few words about Bill. I am grateful for this opportunity to talk about Bill, but it is a challenge to tell stories about a man who was the consummate story-teller. We have all experienced Bill’s gift for telling stories. Within a few minutes of Bill entering a room, you would hear his wonderful laugh. It was a joyous laugh that would start as a rumble deep the center of this big man. The laugh would rumble and tumble and roll, faster and louder, until it burst from his throat to fill the room. Once you heard him laugh, you were immediately drawn to his side, just to hear what was making him laugh. More often than not, Bill was telling the story. He inherited this gift for telling stories from his grandfather Frank Tighe, who helped to raise Bill and from whom Bill got his middle name.
Bill was so charming because he was completely unaware of the effect he had on other people. He made you feel as if you were hilarious and smart and beautiful. And the most interesting person in the world. He did this by focusing his complete attention on you. He learned to do that from his mother, Mary Catherine Tighe Reilly, also known as Aunt Mary and Nanna Mary, to whom he was devoted. Mary Reilly was a kind, loving and generous woman who loved life and loved having fun. Bill also found joy and love and excitement in his life and he shared it with all of us.
I’ve been hearing stories about Bill my whole life. My mother, C. Helen Tighe McIntyre was his aunt, but because she is only a few years older than Bill, they were more like brother and sister. Bill gave Mom the affectionate nickname of LaLa, because as a little boy he couldn’t say Helen, and my mother helped name baby Bill after Fr. William Donahue of Holy Name Church. Bill and my mother were always close, and Bill was one of my dad, Ted McIntyre’s, best friends.
We all know that the most important thing in Bill’s life was his wife and family. He told me that he fell in love with Pauline the first time he saw her. He said that he had never seen anyone who was so pretty and little and neat, like a little doll in a package in the store. Everything about Pauline made Bill happy and one of his favorite songs was Billy Joel’s “Don’t go changing just to please me, I love you just the way you are.” That’s the way he felt about Pauline.
Bill wanted to create a perfect world for his perfect wife. Pauline told me that Bill spent the last couple years fixing and re-fixing everything about their home, just to make sure that everything was as perfect as he could possibly make it, “just in case.…” Of course, none of us imagined that we would be here today.
But Bill would want us to laugh, so I want to share a couple stories with you. I want you to remember back to when you heard these stories directly from Bill.
Bill was a strong and vigorous man whose life had no limits or boundaries except for his love and devotion to his wife and family. He was free to try to do whatever he wanted, and Pauline supported him always.
When Bill wanted to try sailing, he decided to build a boat in Nanna Tighe’s backyard. Just like Noah, Bill faced a few scoffers who didn’t think that he could build a boat in the backyard, but they were wrong. With the help of some books and magazines, he built a small but completely seaworthy vessel. Then he built a trailer to get it to the water. Then he taught himself how to sail. Bill liked to push things to the limit, and enjoyed taking his sail boat to the outer limits of horizontality. Bill had no fear of the water, so I guess he somehow knew that he was going to die on land. When Bill was sailing, Pauline would watch his every move with binoculars and report whenever Bill capsized. Bill enjoyed sailing so much that he would start sailing again as soon as the boat was righted, without even taking time to bail out the water. That’s how he invented the “Sail and Bail” school of navigation, but strangely it didn’t really catch on outside the Reilly family.
Bill was proud of that boat and got in line for the procession in the New Bedford harbor for the Blessing of the Boats. Since the many boats were expected to process in a long orderly line, Bill couldn’t use the sail and had to rely on his outboard motor for power. I know what you’re thinking, “Did he build that, too?” Well, no, but he probably should have because he spent so much time fixing that little eggbeater. That fateful day in the procession of boats the motor quit. Bill tried everything he could think of to fix that motor, even used a few magic words, but nothing helped -- the motor would not start. All eyes then turned to the Captain’s wife, but Pauline was hard to find because she was trying to hide. That is not easy to do in a small boat when hundreds of people are looking down at you, but Pauline did pretty well. But thank God for the U.S. Coast Guard, which towed Bill’s boat past the Bishop for that badly needed blessing. Bill rose to the occasion to give a dignified blessing back to the crowd, saying “thank you very much, thank you very much”.
Irish people believe that when you die and get to heaven, God sends your loved ones out to greet you. I know on Saturday night when Bill got to heaven he was met by Nanna and Grampa Tighe, his mother Mary Reilly and my dad Ted McIntyre. But that’s not all. Bill was also greeted by a small gray cat.
Bill hasn’t seen Smokey for a long time and he’d loved that cat. Smokey went everywhere with the family. Bill even built a special little house tent to tie on top of the station wagon so that Smokey could accompany the family on their many camping trips. There was that one trip to Cape Cod. Pauline and the girls, Carol and Jane, slept inside the family station wagon, while Bill and the twins, Pat and Mike, slept in a tent close by. Smokey slumbered peacefully in his nearby little house. It was a lovely peaceful night on Cape Cod, like so many other nights. But then the story gets exciting and a little confused. The boys remember hearing something in the night, maybe a yelp, or maybe they were just dreaming. At breakfast, when the boys got up and were looking for the cat, Bill announced that Smokey had gone away and wasn’t coming back. So at least, Bill finally knows what happened to Smokey.
There are a lot more stories about Bill that we could share. Bill loved to be with his family and his friends. When I think of Bill I will remember his energy, his enthusiasm, his love for life and his wonderful laugh. I will think of him working, helping, and always being a good friend and companion. It’s hard for me to think of a world without Bill. But heaven is a better place for having Bill. He is busy building a wonderful home in heaven for Pauline. And when Bill is done, he will start on the boat. Pauline, bring your binoculars!
Bill, thank you for your many gifts to us. Thank you for making our lives better. We love you very much.
We will never forget you.