People and Happenings
People and Happenings
Remembering
David Gallagher
By Gus Fraser, Vice President of Preservation & Facilities
David Gallagher, our Chief of Conservation, passed away in July after a long battle with cancer, and with his passing the Cemetery has lost a friend, a colleague, and the mainstay of our preservation work for the last fifteen years. David was hired in 2001 to be the Cemetery’ s first craftsman dedicated entirely to the preservation of our historic monuments and buildings. During his years here he conserved hundreds of monuments and tombs, managed the preservation of cast iron fences, restored interior plasterwork, performed carpentry repairs on historic woodwork, and oversaw the maintenance of our outdoor bronze sculpture. His enthusiasm for preservation was all-encompassing and he applied the highest standard to all of his work.
David brought considerable skills to the job at Mount Auburn, skills developed during his years at North Bennet Street School and then honed as a preservation contractor working on buildings throughout the Boston area. He always knew, however, that there was more to learn and he continuously sought opportunities for additional training and experience. While at Mount Auburn he received a Quinque fellowship and spent twelve weeks working alongside stone conservators at Historic Scotland. He traveled to Europe to learn stone-carving skills. He attended workshops, conferences, and trade shows, always learning and always eager to apply new skills and techniques to his work. We often hired stone and sculpture conservators to work at Mount Auburn, and whenever possible David would work alongside them to
see if he could learn about new conservation materials or methods.
Before long, David was doing the teaching. Under his supervision, the preservation department grew, and he trained the seasonal workers to carefully wash monuments and apply wax to bronze, and his full-time staff to repair headstones and repoint tombs. He got perhaps his greatest pleasure working with students or recent graduates of North Bennet Street School. These students shared David’ s respect for the fine craftsmanship often inherent in historic objects, and appreciated that the goal of the preservationist is often to make your own work disappear. David presented papers at national conferences and was invited to serve on the board of the Association for Preservation Technology’ s Northeast Chapter.
Shortly after David was hired, Mount Auburn built a building adjacent to its Operations Center. David made the new Preservation Services Building( PSB) his home, laying out and stocking the workshop with tools and materials, filling his office with mementos from his travels and photos of his close-knit family, and living in the open and airy apartment upstairs. His devotion to his craft as well as his wry sense of humor filled each of these spaces. He imbued the building with his personality, as he imbued the Cemetery’ s preservation work with a commitment to applying the highest standards to the care of its invaluable history. Through his work, David left an enduring mark on the Cemetery, and we will continue to honor his memory through thoughtful preservation work, always done to the highest standard.
2017 Volume 1 | 19