George S. Gracie

George Stanley Gracie (died 1959) sat on the Board of Selectmen from 1932 to 1948 and again from 1950 to 1953, and for most of his first sixteen years he was the board's secretary. On October 20, 1926, he married Althea M. McBride of Lubec, Maine, in Billerica.

In 1932 he was secretary of the three-member board under Dr. Maurice A. Buck, with Arthur R. Hallenborg. When the board was enlarged to five members in 1933 and began to act also as the Board of Public Works, Gracie was elected for three years with 1,471 votes. The new board again made him secretary and put him and Frank A. Kelley in charge of the Highway Department. He kept the secretary's post under the chairmanships of Dr. A. Warren Stearns, Kelley and Hallenborg, served on the highway committee through the war years, later with Charles L. Howarth, and in 1946 and 1947 shared the water department with Arthur C. Barnard. As a selectman he was also a fence viewer each year.

At the March 1948 election he lost his seat, polling 854 votes. Two years later he came back, winning a three-year term in 1950 with 1,391 votes, and he was again on the water committee with John F. Monahan. In 1953 he ran once more, with 1,070 votes, but Hallenborg and Monahan were elected.

Gracie died on August 16, 1959. The 1959 town report printed an In Memoriam page for him, and at the annual town meeting of March 1960 the members stood in silence in memory of the officials who had died during the year, among them "George S. Gracie, Selectman," Assessor Daniel J. Hurley and Dr. Stearns.

References

1. Marriages, 1926: George S. Gracie of Billerica and Althea M. McBride of Lubec, Me., October 20
2. Town officers, 1932: Selectmen Maurice A. Buck, Chairman; George S. Gracie, Secretary; Arthur R. Hallenborg
3. Annual election, March 1933: George S. Gracie elected Selectman for three years with 1,471 votes
4. Report of the Selectmen, 1933: first five-man board organized as Board of Public Works; Gracie secretary; highways with Kelley
5. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1936: board organized with Dr. A. Warren Stearns as Chairman and George S. Gracie as Secretary
6. Annual election, March 1948: George S. Gracie 854 votes for Selectman (not elected)
7. Annual election, March 1950: George S. Gracie elected Selectman with 1,391 votes
8. Annual election, March 1953: George S. Gracie 1,070 votes for Selectman (not elected)
9. In Memoriam, George Stanley Gracie (1959 town report): died August 16, 1959; Selectman
10. Annual town meeting, March 1960: silence in memory of George S. Gracie, Selectman, and other officials