LYNN — City and state officials, movers and shakers, and even residents will reflect on Thomas W. McGee’s political career today during a memorial Mass at St. Mary’s, but others will be remembering the man who was also a dad.
“The public persona is what you read in the paper, that hard-charging, bring-the-gavel-down kind of guy,” said Sen. Thomas M. McGee, son of the former Speaker of the House who died Dec. 21 at the age of 88. “I knew how he felt, for sure he had a heart of gold ”¦ underneath that’s who he was.”
Thomas M. McGee, along with brothers, Shawn and Michael, and sister, Colleen McGee Kavanaugh, plan to share their reflections on their father during the Mass. McGee on Friday shared some of his recollections.
McGee called his father a regular “Pine Hiller,” referring to the area of town the family moved to in 1960. He said no matter what the news was politically, their friends always felt comfortable at the house where the Speaker of the House was “just a regular dad.”
“He loved sports, all kinds,” McGee said. “He loved golf, that was a passion for him and he could putt, he could really putt.”
But his other true passion was helping people, and McGee said that, as a senator, hardly a day goes by when he doesn’t meet someone who has a story to tell about his dad.
“I’ll be in Worcester and someone will tell me how he helped them and their family,” he said. “And they’re good stories.”
The political realm is one aspect of the former speaker that McGee probably knows better than his siblings.
“I had a chance to see him in a different light and then see him at home as just a regular kid from West Lynn, which is what he was,” McGee said.
McGee said there was no single turning point that caused him to follow his father into politics. It was everything. The senior McGee was elected to the House in 1962 when the senator was 7. He said he remembered the upheaval of the 1960s, his father’s quiet way of helping those who struggled with substance abuse, and his accessibility.
“There was no answering machine then,” he said with a laugh. “The phone would ring day and night; you could always get a hold of him. He had a listed number.”
Even when he became Speaker of the House, McGee said his father was still willing to take those calls.
“He really loved the House,” he said. “Politically it’s the most connected to the community and I think that’s what he loved, being a voice for the community.”
If the cards and letters McGee and his family have received since his father’s death are any indication of his success, then the former Speaker has left a mark.
“Handwritten notes from people I know and some I don’t know from all over,” he said. “I knew people would reach out but this is more so than I ever expected. He loved this city and the things that were really about Lynn.”
Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].
