Jean Gilluly of Edgartown and Marlborough died on Jan. 30. She was 86.
She was born on Dec. 30, 1937 to Walter Gilluly and Hilda Norton Gilluly. She grew up on the Edgartown farm of her grandparents, Orin Norton and Elsie Shurtleff Norton. She had many fond memories of growing up there, including playing with her friend Joyce Prada and her cousin Norma; her grandfather Orin riding in his truck while he listened to gospel music; and horseback riding with friends in her teenage years.
Her life was devoted to animals — her own and those she took care of, first at the ASPCA in Edgartown while in high school; at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital shortly after high school, with Dr. Nelson in Brattleboro, Vt.; and at the Marlborough Animal Hospital, where she lived and worked for 50 years.
Jean enjoyed registering her dogs into agility and obedience competitions. Across her lifetime she had six dogs, a couple of cats and a horse. She loved to tell a story about coming to Woods Hole and being told by one of the lot attendants that he would drive her car onto the freight boat and when she got out and he started to get in, one of her Dobermans popped up from a nap in the back seat. The lot attendant decided he was going to let her drive her car onto the boat.
When she was not working or taking one or more of her dogs to competitions, she could be found riding her horse or walking her dogs in the woods and fields around Marlborough and when she came to see her mom on the Vineyard; camping around New England and Nova Scotia; or visiting her sister and nieces in Minnesota. She enjoyed a trip to Bermuda.
Jean is survived by her nieces, Stephanie Tilton of Edgartown, Faith Schmidt and her husband Marty of Forest Lake, Minn., and Jennifer Tilton of New York, and her cousin Norma Rodgers and her husband Edson of Edgartown.
A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m., at Westside cemetery in Edgartown.
