Gerard “Gerry” “Chris” Christoffels
Long time Tewksbury resident and active Golden Age Club member
Tewksbury - Gerard “Gerry” “Chris” Christoffels, age 79, died September 10, at Saints Medical
Center in Lowell, MA, following a brief fight with cancer. He was the beloved husband of Mary
Louise (Homola) Christoffels with whom he would have been married 60 years next February.
He was born in Everett, a son of the late Adrian and Emilie (Ireberry). He was a US Navy
veteran of WWII. He has been a resident of Tewksbury for the past 50 years.
He was retired from Sweetheart Plastics where he was a plastics engineer. He enjoyed frequent
trips to his cottage in Maine for fly fishing and peace and quiet. He also enjoyed woodworking
and woodcarving, building cradles and window boxes.
He was involved with several organizations including the Golden Age Club, the Tewksbury Senior
Center, he helped build the F.A.R.M., and worked at the Billerica Middle School Woodworking
Program. He was a communicant of St. Robert Bellarmine Church and member of their Knights
of Columbus.
He is survived by his three sons, Gerard Jr. “Buck” and his wife Anne Marie (Carew) of Derry,
NH, David and his wife Diane (Gorfinkle) of Litchfield, NH, Mark and his wife Angela (Eiben) of
Methuen; and his three daughters Nancy and her husband Kevin McClellan of Lempster, NH, Lisa
and her husband Timothy Fahey of Dracut, and Tina and her husband James Griffith of Dracut;
thirteen grandchildren, Brian, Amy, Andrew, James Christoffels, Michael and his wife Andrea
Chrisstoffels,
Sara Chrisstoffels, Teresa and her husband Gary Morin, Christopher McClellan, Kelly and Molly
Fahey, Emilie Griffith, Allison and Dylan Christoffels.
He is also survived by his brothers John Chrisstoffels of Oklahoma, and Adrian Chrisstoffels of
NH.
He was the brother of the late Emilie Gurnon and Antionette “Tony” Dorsey.
His
Funeral Mass was celebrated Saturday, Sept. 15, in St. Robert Bellarmine Church,West Andover. Burial followed at St. Mary’s Cemetery, No. Tewksbury.
Memorials to the
Brigham and Women's Hospital Development Office, 116 Huntington Ave., 5th Floor, Boston,
MA 02116 will be appreciated.