Gillooly Funeral Service

Thursday in Florida. The former Chicago Cubs pitcher and longtime owner of the Orient Service Station on Main Road was 76 years old.“The gas station was like the barber shop in ‘Andy Griffith,” Orient resident Carol Gillooly said of Mr. Hands’ business. “Everybody would be trying to solve the problems of the world and talking about baseball.”Mr. Hands, who was born in Hackensack, N.J., spent 11 seasons in the majors, including seven years as a right-handed pitcher with the Cubs. He also spent short stints with the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers, winning 111 games with a career earned run average of 3.35.In 1969 he pitched to a 20-14 record and 2.49 ERA pitching for the Cubs, who were nine games ahead in first place in the National League East on Aug. 13, but ended up losing the division to the eventual champion New York Mets.Mr. Hands grew up in Rutherford, but summered in Orient, he said in an October 2015 interview with The Suffolk Times, which centered on the fact that the Cubs were playing the Mets in the playoffs (and eventually lost.)“No one hated the Mets more than Billy Hands,” said Bill Fish, the golf pro at Islands End in Greenport, who played golf with Mr. Hands every Friday for the past five or six years from April to October. He still wore his Cubs hat and rooted for Chicago.This past season, Mr. Hands got to see the Cubs finally win the World Series for the first since 1908.“He was ecstatic about that, that’s for sure,” Mr. Fish said. “He stuck around long enough to see it. We were all happy about that.”Mr. Fish said Mr. Hands was a long-time member of the golf club.“He was an excellent athlete. He enjoyed golf and outdoors and fishing,” he said. “We hit it off. He was always good with a quick joke.”Photos of Bill Hands in his playing days as seen inside his shop. (Credit: Chris Lisinski)When it came to talking about baseball, Mr. Fish said, “You had to ask him questions, but he would definitely get going if you hit on a nerve. He wasn’t going to boast about anything, but if you brought up a subject he... (Suffolk Times)

Each candidate submitted and were chosen based on two letters ofrecommendation and an essay about how they displayed leadership, compassion andhelpfulness within their school or community. They were presented their scholarship checks at a breakfastheld on June 10th at the funeral home. In Photo: (Left toright): Joseph Markey, funeral director; Brian Clougher, funeral homeassociate; graduate MichaelMcDonough, who will be attending Bentley College in Waltham; graduate, JuliaCopponi, who will be attending Keene State College in Keene, NH, Jean Turchan,funeral home office manager and Frederick Wobrock, managing funeral director.Get free real-time news alerts from the Norwood Patch.Thanks for your feedback! Now share it with your friends!Thanks for your feedback.-- -- ? Subscribe to the free daily newsletter from Patch-- -- -- -- -- Originally published June 15, 2015. (Patch.com)