GILFORD ---- William ‘Bill’ Edward Mullen, 80, of Gilford, NH, died of cancer on Friday, April 7, 2023, in New Smyrna Beach, FL, where he spent the winters playing his beloved golf, swimming in the ocean, and walking the beach.
Bill was born at Malden Hospital in Malden, MA, on November 2, 1942, to Katherine Maloney Mullen and Harold Daniel Mullen.
The first few years of his life were spent with his mother at his grandparents’ house in Malden, while his father was stationed in Hawaii and the Philippines during World War II. When his father returned from the war effort, the family bought and moved into a house on Cristofaro Street in Wakefield, MA, where Bill and his four younger siblings would grow up. Bill spent many winter afternoons skating on the nearby lake in those years when the ice was safe for several months, not coming home until the light faded.
Golf was a life-long passion. His golf education started with caddying and then working as a summer groundskeeper at a local golf club during his student years. His mother often commented that he wasn’t one to hang around the house too much. Through high school, he played football, hockey, and baseball. In his 30s he played lots of tennis and took up running.
As a boy, Bill went to St. Joseph’s School in Wakefield, where the sisters of St. Joseph knew better than to send notes home with him – notes meant to inform his parents of his latest “achievements” -- and for safe delivery they resorted instead to pinning these messages to the jacket of Bill’s younger sister.
Bill was proud of his alma maters. He went to Malden Catholic High School and Boston College, when it was still a commuter school, and graduated from there with a degree in business in 1964. He then joined the U.S. Army Reserves and after basic training in Georgia, he served in a Boston reserve unit for six years. Soon after graduation, he went to work for the Group Insurance Division of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company in Boston. He was transferred to John Hancock’s Buffalo, NY office for several years, and then was happy to transfer back to Boston.
In 1975, he married the love of his life, Mary Margaret Halpin, a substitute school teacher and the single mother of two young boys. Bill moved into Mary’s house in Burlington, MA, and adopted the boys. They took his name and always called him Dad. He was an awesome provider. He greatly enjoyed and supported his sons’ various sports activities, and was always a strong advocate for the importance of their education. The family moved to Boxford, MA in 1984. Bill loved each of his siblings and was very proud of them and all their talents and accomplishments. His family was always the center of his life.
His looks were Irish. His accent was Boston. His smile was devilish. His attitude was devil-may-care. He was always quick with a witty retort. He loved to tell, and to hear, a good story, and really liked to laugh. He was a cynic. Or a skeptic. Or was just trying not to be disappointed. He watched thousands of hours of sports on TV with his sons and was rooting for the Boston teams, though he wouldn’t say so, as it wouldn’t feel very good when the Boston teams lost. A longtime friend recently said of him, “He was a curmudgeon, and he enjoyed the role.” He was definitely loyal and was very generous. His wife liked to say of him, “He would give you the shirt off his back.”
Though he worked hard at his profession, working his way into an executive position at John Hancock, in many ways Bill was a lucky man, and he was the first one to tell you that. He went to work at John Hancock when employees were still getting pension plans; he was there, too, when the 401k was developed and offered, and he jumped on that.
When he left John Hancock in the mid-90s, he and a partner started an insurance agency called the Newburyport Company, on Pleasant Street in Newburyport, MA. In 1997, at the tender age of 55, he made his retirement official and, after long and careful deliberation, he and Mary found the right house in Gilford, NH and moved there from Boxford, MA. Bill thoroughly enjoyed his early retirement, bringing the same gusto that he brought to his working years, maybe even more. Retirement was a serious benefit, not to be taken lightly.
Bill and Mary loved to ski – at Gunstock, Waterville Valley, and Loon, and at mountains out West, like Keystone and Steamboat. One of his classic sayings at the top of the mountain late in the day was, “This is my next-to-last run”, and then of course he would beat everyone to the bottom. When he started taking off his skis and was asked what happened to the “last run,” he would reply, “I never take a last run because that’s when everyone gets hurt.”
Bill was fascinated with history, World War II history in particular. He traveled often, especially after retirement, making frequent trips to Europe, and one to Alaska and the Yukon in Canada. In the winters, he’d fly from Florida to a resort on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, where he loved to swim and lie in the sun. Bill was a longtime member of Andover Country Club, and then, when he moved to New Hampshire, of the Laconia Country Club. Whether in New England or Florida, he always preferred to walk the course.
Bill and Mary were active volunteers at the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Laconia, and at the Lakes Region Scholarship Foundation, through which he and Mary offered an annual scholarship to local college-bound high school seniors in memoriam to their son, John.
Bill is survived by his three sisters: Claire Riedl and her husband John Quinn, of Bedford, MA, Mary Jane Desantis of South Riding, VA, and Patricia Wiley and her husband Paul of Richmond, VA, and by his brother, Lawrence Mullen and his wife Kitty, of Wakefield, MA. He’s survived by his son, Kurt Mullen, of Newburyport, MA, and by his daughter-in-law, Amy Fleischer. He is also survived by his sisters-in-law Arline “Missy” Gove of Falmouth-Foreside, ME and Martha Cunningham of Bristol, NH, and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Thomas and Patricia Halpin of West Boylston, MA. He’s survived, too, by many nieces and nephews, and his very close and supportive friends in Florida and New Hampshire. He was predeceased by his older son, John, who died in an accident in July 2005. And by his wife, Mary, who died of cancer in November 2014.
Calling Hours will be held on Friday, June 23, 2023, from 4:00pm-6:00pm, at Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH 03247, using the Carriage House entrance.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, June 24, 2023, at 10:00am, at Saint Joseph Parish, 96 Main Street, Belmont, NH 03220.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a charitable gift in Bill’s name to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Laconia, NH, P.O. Box 6123, Laconia, NH 03247.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, Laconia, NH, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit wilkinsonbeane.com.