Jill (Gove) Giurado

HAVERHILL - With great sorrow and many tears we said goodbye to our beloved Jill this morning, October 2, 2020. Jill was a gift from the day she was born in Haverhill on May 8, 1971, her father’s birthday. She was the daughter of Robert and the late Jean (Boyland) Gove of Merrimac, MA. She attended the Merrimac and Pentucket School Systems, gathering a group of friends as she went who remain close and true friends to her to this day, Gwen, Kandy, Jessica, Mary and Joelly, lovingly dubbed “The Hens” by her husband, and Marina, Christine, Nikki, Courtney, Tracey and Kristin.

Jill married Eric J. Giurado of Lawrence on a beautiful sunny September day in 2001 next to the pounding surf in Rye, New Hampshire. Jill had put her mother Jean in charge of the weather as, devastatingly, Jean had passed away in 1992, painfully missed by Jill at every major event in her lifetime since then. If there is any one positive thought in this loss it is that Jill’s pain over the loss of her mother has ended and they are together again.

Eric and Jill went on to have two amazing children. Nicolas, now 17, a senior, honor student and athlete at Haverhill High School and Kaydence, 12 years old who battled for her life at birth and won. She is now in the 6th grade at the Nettle Middle School.  In marrying Eric, Jill also gained a step daughter, Chantel, whom she adored and treasured as much as she did her own. When describing her step-mother, Chantel said, “She always puts other people first.”

This was our ‘Jilly-bean.’ In the past few months as we supported her in her courageous battle between her will to live and melanoma, she has been described as one of a kind, an angel on earth, funny, sweet, loving, happy, joyous, caring, compassionate, forgiving, kind and selfless. She leaves behind a multitude of friends and we don’t know how we would have come through the last three or four months without all of them. Thanks also to the nurses who have cared for both Jill in the hospital and Kaydence in our home during this difficult time.

After graduating from Nursing School at Northern Essex Community College Jill went on to work for Covenant Health in 2002 where she practiced as an LPN for eleven years at Mary Immaculate Nursing Home in Lawrence on their Alzheimer’s Unit. She then transferred to their Corporate Office in 2013 where she served as their Nurse EMR Informatics leader for post-acute care and recently played a role in the conversion of the electronic health record to PointClickCare in skilled nursing facilities. The Giurado family wishes to thank Gerard Foley, SVP and President of Post-Acute Care, Matthew Preston, System Director and Susan Dow, Supervisor for their support throughout Jill’s employment and illness.

Jill’s spirit and kindness will forever shine within her husband Eric, children Nicolas and Kaydence of Haverhill, step daughter Chantel and her fiancée Zak Walsh of Pelham, NH, her father Robert and step-mother Bonnie (Kehoe) Gove of Cape Coral, Florida, brother Rick and his wife Sarah (Serres) Gove and nephews Wyatt and Liam, all of Oregon City, Oregon, step-brother Moe LaChance and nephew Luke of Rutland, Vermont, mother in-law Beverly (Shaw) and her husband Michael Burke of Methuen and father in-law Robert and his wife Kathleen (Delaney) Giurado of Lawrence, sister in-law Lisa Giurado as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland. Jill was the granddaughter of the late Margaret (Curry) and Fred T. Gove and of the late Christine ‘Mimi’ (MacIntyre) and James S. Boyland, all of Georgetown.  She was also the step-sister of the late Matthew LaChance.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, October 7, in the Driscoll Funeral Home, 309 S. Main Street, Haverhill from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Please note to wear face coverings and social distancing measures will be in place. Private services will take place in St. James Episcopal Church, Groveland, followed by burial in Locust Grove Cemetery, Merrimac. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Jill’s memory to the Nicolas Giurado College Fund c/o of Bank of America, 191 Merrimack Street, Haverhill, MA 01830. For guestbook, visit www.driscollcares.com

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