McGee fondly remembered

LYNN – Former Speaker of the House Thomas W. McGee had a simple philosophy during his years in public office.”I always remember him saying that his goal was to try and help one person out every day, in his district,” said former Mayor and City Councilor Albert V. DiVirgilio. “He didn’t go for the glory.”McGee died Friday at the age of 88. A local boy, born and bred in Lynn, McGee got his start in public office when he was elected to the City Council in 1956. He won a seat in the House in 1963 and ascended to Speaker of the House in 1975 where he presided for a record nine and half years.He was by all accounts a formidable politician but many also remembered McGee as worrying more about his constituents than his own political clout.DiVirgilio said the death of his friend sent him to the basement Sunday where he pulled out pictures and clippings from their shared past.”We had a lot of interaction over the years,” he said. “I’m more of his generation,.”When he first won his seat as mayor McGee came into to congratulate him, DiVirgilio said.”During my tenure on both the School Committee and City Council then as mayor, he always did what he could do to help the city,” he said.When Lynn was facing financial crisis in the 1990s it was McGee who helped them out of it, DiVirgilio said.”I don’t think he was ever totally appreciated for what he accomplished,” DiVirgilio said. “He was a tough guy ? but he was a regular guy.”He was a guy that anyone could talk to, despite party lines, DiVirgilio said.”He was a good guy and there aren’t a lot of them around,” he said.Former Nahant Town Clerk Harriet Steeves also called McGee a regular guy.”He was the consummate gentleman,” she said. “If you were a different party it didn’t matter. He really thought of his people in his district, not of himself.”Steeves, who knew McGee for the better part of her 35 year career as clerk, presided over Nahant’s portion of the 1990 primary campaign recount that pitted McGee against then Lynn City Councilor Edward Clancy for the 11 Essex House District seat. It was noisy, she recalls. With McGee, Clancy and lawyers for each side clamoring over the recount from outside a roped off area Steeves said the pressure was enormous and at times it was nearly impossible to work.”I kept saying, ?If you don’t shut up I have the authority to throw you out,'” she said with a chuckle. “It was in a way wonderful. It was awful but it was wonderful.”North Shore Community College President Wayne Burton said Friday he was saddened to hear of McGee’s passing. It was under McGee’s leadership that the Lynn campus was created featuring a building that bears his name.”Our thoughts are with the entire McGee family as they mourn his loss but celebrate a life that meant so much to so many,” he said.Burton praised McGee for realizing early the force for good a public community college would have in his “beloved native city of Lynn” calling the college a catalyst for change.”We honor him best by expanding on the dream he had for us nearly three decades ago, especially our mission of developing in our students the sense of civic service Speaker McGee personified,” he added.David Solimine Sr., owner of Solimine Funderal Homes said the funeral and burial for McGee was private but there will be a public celebration of his life after the New Year.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].