Barbara Gillis of Scituate dies at age 102

SCITUATE -- Barbara McCue Gillis has died at age 102, a little over a month short of her 103rd birthday on Aug. 18.

Gillis, who passed away Sunday, invited 100 people to her centenarian party at the GAR Hall in Scituate in August 2016. Each received a Presidential $1 coin. A member of the WAVES during World War II and a pioneer in the Boston insurance industry, she remained remarkably independent until just a few months ago.

She was the first female regional group underwriting coordinator at John Hancock Mutual Insurance Co. in Boston. At her 100th party, when she stood up to speak after listening to heartfelt tributes from her family, she reflected on the many lives she had lived within her first century. And she did it in the style of a standup comedian."I wasn't born yesterday," she began, warming up the crowd. "Life has three stages. There's youth, there's middle age and there's 'Gee, you look great!' I have reached stage three. And it's fun to look back at how people of different ages look at age."Jay Gillis, of Virginia, and Sandy Comstock, of California, thanked Gillis for taking care of them when she married their father, a widower in 1971. She was in her mid-50s.

"When our mother died, Barbara came into our lives and she saved us" Comstock said.

Gillis's niece, Dotti Cook, of Scituate, described her "as one of a kind" and recounted Gillis' service as a WAVE in World War II and what a stylish, single and generous "Aunt Barbara" she had -- so well dressed, with a splashy yellow convertible.Humor and intelligence were just two of the strengths that carried her through life. She could tackle problems head-on, including her own loss of vision over the past 15 years. Legally blind due to macular degeneration, she thrived with strong family and community support. She learned to use an electronic magnifier that helped her read and write, sign checks, pay her bills and make appointments.

She was born Barbara McCue into a middle-class family in Brookline. After graduating from Brookline High School in 1934, she attended secretarial school in Boston, went to work at John Hancock and enlisted in the WAVES in 1942, at the urging of an aunt who had been a nurse in World War I.

She had her second hip replacement on March 23, 2017 at age 100½. It was, she said, "fabulous."

For a long time she attended and helped lead the low-vision support group at Hingham Elder Services. Listening to talking-book tapes was one of her favorite daily activities, and she looked forward with great enthusiasm to the Thursday luncheons of the First Trinitarian Congregational Church in Scituate.

Visiting hours are from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Richardson-Gaffey Funeral Home, 382 First Parish Road, Scituate. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary of the Nativity Church, 1 Kent St, Scituate.

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