Feb. 5, 1931 — Sept. 14, 2010
George Pettygrove, 79, of Fairfield, died Sept. 14, 2010, at home.
Born Feb. 5, 1931, in Tonopah, Nev., he lived in Fairfield 50 years. He served in the U.S. Navy in 1950-54 and was a veteran of the Korean conflict. He was a medical corpsman and was transferred back to Mare Island Naval Hospital in 1953 where he met his wife, Joy Gleason. After his discharge, he entered San Francisco State where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biological science in 1957 and a master’s degree in education in 1961.
He began his teaching career at Suisun Valley Elementary and spent 10 years in elementary, 10 years in secondary and 10 years in the district office. His last job was director of finance. He retired in 1989. Including his consulting work with the district, he had more than 42 years as a teacher and administrator.
He served on the Fairfield City council from 1991 to 2001, including serving as mayor from 1997 to 2001.
He was a member of the Fairfield-Suisun Rotary Club since 1960, was president from 1970-1971, had perfect attendance for 50 years and was a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. He just completed a two-year term on the Solano County grand jury. He was a member of F&AM Suisun Lodge No. 55, Montezuma Shrine, VFW Post No. 2333 and Elks Lodge, just to mention a few. He was a member of the Community United Methodist Church.
He is survived by his daughter, Mary Pettygrove Flurey of Fairfield; son-in-law, John Flurey of Fairfield; brother, John Neil Pettygrove of Arizona; and grandchildren, Tyler and Brandon Flurey of Fairfield.
A visitation will be held 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, 2010, at Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, with a Masonic memorial service at 7 p.m. A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, at Community United Methodist Church. He will be buried next to his wife in the Suisun-Fairfield Cemetery.
Memorial contributions preferred to the George Pettygrove Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Fairfield-Suisun Rotary Club, P.O. Box 477, Fairfield, Calif. 94533.
Arrangements by Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, 425-4697. Visit a memorial book at www.bryanbraker.com.