James Francis Lynn, 95, formerly of Duryea, died on April 16, 2021, of old age in his new hometown of Rutland, Vermont.

Jim was born in Duryea, in 1925 to James Lynn and Anna Lavelle Lynn, both of whom emigrated from villages near Ballina, Mayo County, Ireland. After high school, he joined the Marines and served as a Technical Sergeant, finishing his stint near the end of WWII in Peking (now Beijing), China. Upon returning to Duryea, he rejected the post-military $20 for 52-weeks program to attend Penn State. His first year was at Bloomsburg, where he reconnected with his high school classmate, Gloria Gillis, whom he married in 1950.

He spent his entire career of 41 years at Liberty Mutual. Initially starting in sales, he rose to Division Sales Manager in Pittsburgh and then Assistant VP of Advertising and Public Relations at the home office in Boston. Among his accomplishments were creating the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, the precursor to the PGA Senior Golf Tour, and several outdoor sports TV shows and made-for-television movies. He later returned to lead the sales department as VP of National Sales until his retirement in 1990.

He was a Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus in Silver Spring, MD, President of the Insurance Advertising Conference, and testified before Congress regarding insurance matters. An avid golfer all his life, he took up running in his mid-50s, which became his primary passion after losing his wife Gloria in 1987. He ran scores of 5K and 10K races but was most proud of running 12 marathons, including ones in Boston, New York, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., and his last one, at age 74, in Dublin, Ireland.

After almost 40 years living in Medfield, MA, he moved to Vermont in 2015 to be closer to his family. He stayed active, walking 1.5 miles a day well into his 90s and enjoying lots of laughs with his grandkids and trips to McGrath’s Irish Pub for music and a Guinness with his whole family. The pursuit of his Irish roots and meeting many distant relatives in the U.S. and Ireland gave him great pleasure over the past few decades, particularly seeing the childhood homesites of his parents.

While his accomplishments were many, he was extremely humble. He will be best remembered by those that knew him as kind, considerate, selfless, and a generous husband, father, grandfather, and mentor. He relished in the accomplishments of those he knew and loved and was a prolific writer of notes/letters of encouragement, inspiration, and appreciation.

He is survived by his son, Gillis Lynn and his wife, Lynn Jensen, of Chittenden, VT; his grandsons, Alex, of Boston, MA, and Peter, of Burlington, VT; his sister-in-law, Madeline Gillis, of Duryea, PA; niece, Joanne Martinez of Marana AZ; and many other family members in the U.S. and “across the pond.” Jim also leaves behind his favorite girl, Ava, the family’s German Shepard of Chittenden, VT, and will be reunited with his other favorite Shepards, Daisy and Tiva, and, most importantly, his longtime love, wife Gloria.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

If inclined, instead of flowers, please send donations to the Rutland County Humane Society, 765 Stevens Rd, Pittsford, VT 05763, https://rchsvt.org.

Funeral will be held on Friday, April 23, 2021, at 10:00 am from the Bernard J. Piontek Funeral Home Inc., 204 Main Street, Duryea with Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 am in Holy Rosary Church, 127 Stephenson Street, Duryea with the Rev. John Polednak officiating. Interment will be held in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Duryea. A viewing will be held on Friday morning from 9:00 am to 10:00 am at the funeral home. To leave an online condolence for James's family, please visit the funeral home website, www.piontekfuneralhome.com.

PLEASE NOTE: YOUR ONLINE CONDOLENCE WILL NOT APPEAR UNDER THE GUESTBOOK ENTRIES UNTIL IT IS APPROVED BY THE FUNERAL HOME

Guestbook Entries

Rest in peace. Please pass on our condolences to the family. My dad (William) is his first cousin x

Veronica Lynn (almost 3 years ago)

Our condolences to his family. He was a great man and we will always remember him.

Joe and Patti Aniello (about 3 years ago)

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