Mrs. Mildred Lee (Bartlett) McGuirk

November 8, 1937 - January 24, 2022

Millie McGuirk passed away peacefully at her home in Dorchester on January 24. She was 84. Millie didn’t have an easy life, but she smiled her way through it and worked hard, raising four children in Connecticut and then in South Boston while doing factory and cleaning jobs. Born in Somerville to Charles and Ethel Robar, Millie spent her formative years in Hartford; she moved from orphanage to foster home to the House of the Good Shepherd, and left Hartford High School at age 16 to work at Woodbury Glass. She tried in her later years to “never be unhappy,” and found joy in simple things like board and card games, her ever-present iPad, her cat Sweetie, and the Bingo hall. She believed her greatest accomplishment was raising her family; that family survives her in children Diana and Bill Cannon of Stoughton, Mass., Darrell and Debbie Bartlett of Tyngsboro, Mass., Gail Higgins of Weymouth, Mass., and Payson Bartlett. Also surviving are her grandchildren: Milissa Garside, Prima Bartlett, Billy and Chris Cannon, Dayna, Lauren and Brendan Bartlett, Taylor and Mackenzie Higgins. She also is survived by her step-children, Kathy Brooks, Diane Dietrich and Peggy Anderson and her brother Ralph Robar of East Hartford, Conn; she was predeceased by siblings Ann, Jessie and Joseph. Relatives and friends may visit the family and celebrate Millie’s life on Friday, January 28, from 4-7 p.m. McHoul Funeral Home, 354 Adams St., Dorchester.