Richard G. Burrill

Richard “Richie” G. Burrill, age 73 of Lynn, passed peacefully onward to his next adventure in the early morning hours of Friday, September 27, 2024. He was the beloved husband of Janice R. (Mudge) Burrill, with whom he shared 51 years of marriage.

Born in Salem to the late Henry and Dorothy (Anderson) Burrill, Richie attended St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, MA. There, as the foremost underdog, he played football and ran track, forever exceeding expectations.

After graduating in 1970, Richie brought his talents as a skilled machinist to several companies, including GTE Sylvania and Micro Mech in Ipswich, MA where he spent the last 30 years. Known for his patience, kindness, and ability to teach, he mentored numerous colleagues in his career. Richie was always the “go-to guy” for jobs requiring utmost precision. In addition to his career as a machinist, he also worked as a beloved educator for a special education program in the Lynn Public Schools. For this, Richie was honored in 1991 with a Mayor’s Citation for his dedicated service to students.

A proud lifelong resident of Lynn, Richie raised his family in the tightly knit neighborhood of Pine Hill. He was an active member of the Pine Hill community and the first one to lend a hand to a neighbor. When his children were young, you could find him at Gallagher Park hitting ground balls to his daughter or in the driveway tinkering with machinery with his son.

Richie loved the outdoors. He was a longtime member of the Boy Scouts and achieved the prestigious ranking of Life Scout. An avid fisherman, he and his father may have single handedly contributed to the decline of the deep sea flounder population off the coast of Massachusetts. These expeditions were followed by legendary neighborhood fish frys in which the bounty was shared with all. Richie often talked about how he could have lived a parallel life as a forest ranger. He loved taking his family camping all over New Hampshire and Maine. He infused a passion of sports and fishing in his daughter and granddaughter and an outstanding mechanical ability in his son and grandson.

To know Richie was to know how he told a story. He could recount tales of the everyday and find a way to impassion that tale to make you realize he and the truth were winking their eyes at each other. A modern day bard, he spoke in such a way that you knew he believed the world to be a place where ordinary could be extraordinary. His favorite storytelling subjects were, naturally, his children and grandchildren. If you were fortunate enough to hear an epic Richie story, you heard the sound of his heart. In his honor, tell an extraordinary story. We always will.

In addition to his wife Janice, Richie is survived by his devoted children Christina DeCourcy and her husband Andrew of Hamilton and Christopher Burrill and his wife Maria of Brentwood, NH, his grandchildren Avery and Ryan DeCourcy of Hamilton, and his siblings David Burrill of Maine and Nancy Weathers of Texas. He was predeceased by his brother Phillip Burrill and granddaughter Ezra Burrill.

Friends and family are invited to attend Richard’s visitation on Thursday, October 3, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Cuffe-McGinn Funeral Home, 157 Maple Street, Lynn. His funeral service will follow at 12:00 PM in the funeral home. Interment will follow in Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn.