Gerald Harrington Was Navy Veteran, Attorney

Gerald (Gerry) Harrington died on Jan. 20 in Middletown, R.I., just shy of his 98th birthday. He was born Jan. 31, 1908, in Boston, the son of the late George Wheaton and Marian Andrews Harrington, and brother to the late Carroll Harrington of Providence, R.I., and George Jeffries Harrington of Swampscott.

Gerry attended Longwood Day School and, later, Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge. In college he earned his master's degree at Harvard University (Class of 1930) and in 1933 was graduated from Harvard Law School. While a student at Harvard, Gerry was in the Hasty Pudding drama club and in 1924 was a member with Henry Fonda of the club's summer stock theatre in Falmouth (the Elizabeth Theatre). The actors had bunk quarters in a World War I torpedo destroyer docked in Falmouth.

He was an attorney and partner with the firm of Edwards and Angell in Providence, starting in September 1933 and retiring in 1978. He married Catherine H. Phillips of Providence and Little Compton in 1934, and Eleanor M. (Pat) Springer of Fall River in 1949.

During World War II Gerry served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant at Quonsett Point. One of his duties was as third deputy fire marshall for the state of Rhode Island; as such, he was a key figure in developing emergency fire plans for the Providence waterfront should enemies attack the city. He also co-authored a wartime fire-training manual for the state.

He later served at Midway Island (Hawaii) where he was damage control officer. Gerry was the active night duty officer when the end of World War II was announced, and recalled reporting the cease-fire to submarines at appointed times when they surfaced for communications.

Following military service, Gerry returned to Rhode Island where he resumed practice of law with Edwards and Angell's Providence office. While practicing law in Providence he also lived in Little Compton, Barrington and Warren, R.I., and in St. James City, Fla., during winters of his early retirement years.

From the late 1940s through the 1960s Gerry was an active member of the Rhode Island Lions Club, where he served as district governor. He later was a trustee of Roger Williams College (now Roger Williams University), including responsibilities for facilitating relocation from the former Providence campus to the current Bristol campus.

Gerry spent his youthful summers in Mattapoisett, where he developed a love of the water. He lived for cruising aboard his sailboats Zwei Hertzen I, II and III, with his wife Pat. They sailed along the coast to northern New England and southern Canada frequently, but particularly liked cruising on Narragansett Bay.

Gerry is survived by three sons, Gerald W. Harrington Jr. of Little Compton, Phillips (Flip) Harrington of Chilmark and Brian Harrington of Plymouth. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, Charlotte, Eva, Gerald 3rd, Cabot, Christian, Christina and Catherine, and four great-grandchildren, Felicia, Richard Anthony, Tigerlily and LuluBelle living in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Georgia.