SPRINGFIELD, VA — Madalyn Butler Gilligan, 93, daughter of John and Mary (Sinnott) Butler, passed away peacefully on April 23, 2020. She was the loving wife of Michael Joseph Gilligan, who predeceased her. She and Joe were married in 1954 and raised four children in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Madalyn grew up in Norwood, Massachusetts, and attended Simmons College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1983.
Madalyn was an avid skier. After working all day in Boston while wearing her leather lace-up ski boots, she would catch the train to North Conway, to ski and dance in the same boots. She later spent a fondly remembered season as a ski bum in Stowe, Vermont.
In retirement, Madalyn and Joe moved to Lyme, New Hampshire, where they enjoyed living in a mountainside home with a view of her beloved Vermont. She volunteered with Friends of Lyme Library, the Utility Club, and the Lyme Congregational Church. In 2003, they moved to Springfield, Virginia, to be nearer to their daughter.
Madalyn was beautiful, kind, gentle and good-natured, and she loved to have fun. She will be missed terribly, especially by her devoted sister, Lois, with whom she spoke nearly every day.
Madalyn is survived by her four children, eight grandchildren, three nieces, and sister, Lois Gannett, of Teaneck, New Jersey.
Burial service alongside her husband in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Madalyn’s memory to Fairleigh Dickinson University or WAMU public radio.