John Flynn

John Murray Flynn , 79, of Raymond, New Hampshire, passed away at his home on November 27, 2018. Born and raised in Stoneham, Massachusetts, he graduated from Stoneham High School in 1957.

As a freshman at Salem State College, inspired by Jack Kerouac's On The Road, Jackie shocked everyone, especially his family, by dropping out of school and hitch-hiking cross country to San Francisco, subsequently earning a B.A. in English Literature from San Francisco State University. He returned after a few years to live in Marblehead, where his passion for acting became a reality. During those years, he starred in 29 theatrical productions with such companies as The Marblehead Little Theatre, The Mugford Street Players, The Swampscott Theatre Company, The Salem Theater Ensemble, The Village Players in Topsfield, and the North Shore Music Theatre. Some of his most memorable performances were as Joe in "The Shadow Box," Whiteside in "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and Virgil in "Bus Stop."

Jack later moved to Raymond, New Hampshire, gradually taking smaller parts in local theatre companies and beginning his writing career. He has published three books, two novels based on his childhood and We Came to Fight a War, a beautiful story of his brother Bill, a B-17 Pilot, as told to him by Bill's Radio Gunner Alvin Kotler.

Jack was an avid baseball player in his youth, a dedicated softball player in retirement, at ten years old a devoted buddy to his cousin Barbara confined to a wheelchair after polio, and years later a caring husband to Jeanne and so proud of her talent as an artist. Jack was also a young rebel without a cause; an older hippie with a cause; always a raging liberal; sometimes tough on his family and friends, but always soft and loving with his dog Gabby; not religious, but devoted to St. Anthony, whom he claimed "never, ever disappointed me." And, finally, Jack was a grouchy old man whom we loved.

Jack leaves his son Sean Flynn , his grandsons Nicholas and Andrew, his sister Bette Tsoutsouras; 10 nephews and nieces: Nancy Jacobson, Bill Flynn , Don Flynn , Arthur Flynn , John Flynn , Mary Teresa Doyle, Deahn Leblang, Lori Byman, Mia Morgan; his best friend and devoted nephew Mike Flynn; and first cousins Peggy Ann Murphy and Father Paul Duffy.

A funeral Mass for Jack will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church, 71 Central Street, Stoneham, MA 02180. Interment to follow at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Stoneham.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ed Walsh Foundation, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to helping families in the greater Boston area (edwalshfoundation.org). Ed Walsh, who was the son of Jack's cousin Joan, was a Boston firefighter who lost his life in a 2014 nine-alarm fire.

December 05, 2018
10:00 AM

St. Patrick Church
71 Central St.
Stoneham, MA 02180