Reader Contribution: Honoring Potomac's June Galuardi and Family

This tribute was written by Jenny Sirisamphan and submitted to Potomac Patch

Potomac resident and volunteer , 85, recently lost his wife, June, after 59 years of marriage. They met one hot August day in 1952 at the now defunct Chevy Chase Lake Swimming Pool and married Feb. 21, 1953, at the Catholic Church in Chevy Chase. Jack is cradle Catholic and June a Presbyterian. They moved to Potomac in 1958 where they had three children.

Both of have been active in the Potomac Community affairs since they built their first house in 1957. Jack was director of the first swimming pool on Oaklyn Drive, and president of the West Montgomery County Citizen’s Association in the 1960s when the Potomac Master Plan was originally approved after prolonged meetings and considerable input from the community.

Jack, an engineer, worked for the U.S. General Services Administration on 19th Street in Washington, DC, until he retired in 1982 after 33 years in government. He then went to work at the University of Maryland College Park, helping to design and construct their facilities through 1994.  

After retiring at 67, Jack became active in volunteer matters. He attended local middle schools assisting immigrant children in learning English and doing homework. At the request of Nancy Brenner, then Chief Librarian at Potomac Library, Jack created our library’s conversation club. The club is nearing its tenth active year and has assisted hundreds of visitors from foreign countries in improving their English skills. Nearly 20 years ago the Library installed computers and patrons needed to learn computer skills, so Jack assisted the patrons in learning to use the computers and the Internet.

June was very active in the community affairs also. She was a member of the Welcome Wagon when Potomac was a small farming community with cows, horses and few people. She joined the Glen Hills Garden Club; she was a member of the Potomac Echoes, which replaced the Welcome Wagon. The groups continue to enjoy luncheons of the original members even until today. Later in life, June became active in the Women’s Republican Club right up to her last illness.

The couple actively studied genealogy. June’s ancestor, Robert McCready, came to the United States from Scotland in 1795 and served in the New Jersey militia in the Revolutionary War. They visited Northern Ireland to visit descendents of an ancestor left in Ireland. Jack traced his Italian and Irish relatives back to the early 1800s and visited their hometown and surviving relatives.

Jack and June have three sons and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service was held at Pumphrey Funeral Home in Bethesda for June the following Saturday after her death on July 28, 2012. She was 83 years old. It was an honor when friends from the Republican Clubs came, especially Senator Jean Roesser and the members of the Potomac Echoes and all of her friends and relatives who came to celebrate her productive life.