Alfred George Nolan of Baldwinsville, died April 23, 2017, at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. Known to many as “Gramps Al,” he was born Nov. 1, 1924, in Somerville, Massachusetts, a few years after his parents came to the United States from Ireland.
He graduated from Boston College in 1950, serving as the school’s news and sports correspondent for the Boston Globe. He worked for the Gillette, Schick and Remington corporations and the U.S. Postal Service in Plymouth, Massachusetts, retiring in 2001. He served in World War II as a waist gunner on a B-24 bomber, earning nine medals for distinguished service. Being a part of the 2016 Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., was one of his proudest days.
He was a communicant of St. Mary’s Church and a member of American Legion Post 8529, both in Baldwinsville.
Always making the most of every day, he spent his final hours going to church, playing 18 holes of golf, sparring over the current political climate, ballroom dancing, reading newspapers, discussing his beloved Boston Red Sox (or the New England Patriots!) and spending time with those he loved.
Gramps Al’s radiant smile and his kind and gentle spirit brought joy to everyone who was blessed to be a part of his life. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word, and his passing has left us with a great emptiness in our hearts.
He was married for 25 years to longtime Baldwinsville resident Helen Nile Ellis until her passing in 2009. He is survived by his stepdaughter, Suzanne M. Ellis of Baldwinsville; stepsons, Abe (Kathleen) Ellis of Franklin Park, NJ, and Craig (Laurie) Ellis of Palos Verdes Estates, CA; grandchildren, Barbara Derby, Wes Getman, Carl and Kristen Holmquist, David, Emily and Sarah Ellis; and six great-grandchildren, Allie, Molly, Clara and Emerson Derby, all of Memphis, New York, and Jack and Ellis Getman of Atlanta, Georgia. Services were in Massachussetts, including burial with full military honors at St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury.