November 20, 2008      

WATERTOWN, N.Y.  —  A prayer service for Donald L. Gillette will be 11:15 a.m. Saturday at Reed & Benoit Funeral Home followed by a noon funeral Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church with Rev. Richard Huber, MSC, officiating. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery. Calling hours are 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.  

Contributions may be made to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, The Sisters of the Precious Blood or to the Sister’s of St. Joseph.

Mr. Gillette, 87, of 913 Mill St., died Wednesday at Samaritan Medical Center.

Born Oct. 10, 1921, at Pamelia Four Corners, a son of Harry and Ardis Watson Gillette Sr., he was educated in Brownville High School. He worked on the family farm in his early years. He worked for the New York Air Brake for three years.   

At age 21, he bought a home dairy delivery business, naming it Gillette & Sons. Mr. Gillette delivered milk to homes, schools and stores through out the City of Watertown retiring in 1993 after 52 years of service. Shortly before retiring, he was interviewed and photographed by the Milk Licensing Bureau in Albany making his deliveries as he was the last home delivery business in New York State. 

Mr. Gillette was a member of Sacred Heart Church and was active in the church choir, volunteering for Bingo and the church festival and was a member of the Holy Name Society.  He was a member of the North Side Improvement League. 

He married Veronica E. Weston of Watertown on June 21, 1941. She died Dec. 23, 1994. 

Surviving are four sons and three daughters-in-law, William and Doris, Severn, Md., Terry and Gail, Dexter, Theodore, Williamsville, Randy and Debbie, Watertown; two daughters and a son-in-law, Suzanne Gillette, Watertown, Catherine and Bruce Mothersell, Lacona; and many grandchildren and great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. 

A brother, Harry Gillette Jr., and a sister, Elizabeth Derosia, died before him.

Information provided by Reed & Benoit Funeral Home and Newzjunky, Watertown, N.Y.