Brian J. McGonagle, a lifelong Everett resident who spent 30 years as a carpenter and locksmith at Bunker Hill Community College, died October 28. He was 69.
Born in Everett on April 13, 1957, to Lawrence W. and Eileen (Parker) McGonagle, he graduated from Everett Vocational High School in 1975, where he studied electricity, and earned an associate degree in electrical design at Northeastern Technical. He first worked as a Teamster in the family business, Mystic Motors, with his father, brothers, uncles and cousins, delivering oil and paving roads in every kind of weather.
At Bunker Hill he was the one who could fix anything. His family says he turned out for every snowstorm to run the Bobcat or pick up a shovel, and he even drove the soccer team’s bus. For 30 years he also made the Saturday morning coffee for a community group in Everett and gave rides and a listening ear to anyone who needed one.
He and Sandra (Badeau) McGonagle were together for 34 years and married in 2014. They took trips to Deer Island, Stage Fort Park and the Kancamagus Highway, and spent hours at Winthrop playgrounds with their grandchildren. He liked his bicycle and loud music.
He leaves his wife; his daughters, Sara Soper-Stevens of Winthrop and Melissa Burchfield of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and their husbands; his granddaughters, Scarlett and Sylvie Soper-Stevens; his siblings Lawrence, Kevin, Joseph, Ann, James, Daniel and Eileen McGonagle, several of whom live in Everett; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
Visiting hours are Wednesday, November 4, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Cafasso & Sons Funeral Home, 65 Clark St., Everett. His funeral Mass is Thursday, November 5, at 10 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 487 Broadway, Everett, with burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. The family suggests memorial gifts to MOAR, the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery.
Compiled from information published by Cafasso & Sons Funeral Home, 65 Clark St., Everett. Photograph courtesy of the family via Cafasso & Sons. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s website. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.