George Joseph Durller

George Joseph Durller was born December 16th 1948. He was the youngest child of Joseph and Margaret (Mallooley) Durller, of Fort Edward New York. George came into the family with an older sister Margaret Mary, often called Sunshine and an older brother James Thomas that everyone called Jimmy or Jim.

By the time George was born, his father had already had a significant heart attack. Joe painted houses and put up wallpaper. The family lived in an old house, on the banks of a feeder canal in the New York Canal System, which eventually reached the Erie Canal. Fort Edward was not a town. It was a village, where almost everyone knew each other.

May of 1959 saw both of George’s parents in the hospital at the same time. His father recovered from his stroke, but his mother died of Colon Cancer at the age of 37. George was 11 years old.

What had happened in his family George couldn’t change. How he reacted to those circumstances was his choice. He started delivering papers, shoveling snow, mowing lawns with a hand push lawn mower, and selling greeting cards, and wrapping paper. In the summer he sold green beans, butter beans, tomatoes and squash from his red Flyer wagon. His job was to also take the family's dirty clothing to the laundromat in that same wagon. His home did not have a washing machine, dryer, TV, or car.

By the time George was in 9th grade he was working as a stock boy at Savage’s Grocery store. He was required to wear a white shirt. George had two. He hand washed and ironed them daily. Meanwhile, George did the family budget, made a grocery list, and bought food for the week.

In high school George went into training to become a meat cutter in the butcher shop at Savage’s. The job was difficult, however he was good at it. George lifted a full quarter of beef by himself. It was during this time that Joe, George’s father went blind from Glaucoma. George read his father two newspapers a day. When he graduated George was a Journeyman Meat cutter, this provided him with a way to pay for college.

He went to work for the Grand Union while he spent the next two years at Adirondack Community College. During his first year Joe passed away leaving three young people in the family home.

George’s older sister Margaret married her high school sweetheart. His older brother Jim joined the Marines and went to Vietnam. George attracted the notice of a church member who helped him obtain a scholarship to The State University of New York at Albany. George bought his first car. There was a library job that came with the scholarship, but George really enjoyed working for the Grand Union on holidays at various ski resort towns cutting everything into steaks and earning double time wages and holiday bonuses. He had fun too especially skiing at Gore Mountain.

George graduated from SUNY at Albany with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Accounting. He didn’t get to use his degree right away because he was either going to be drafted or he needed to join the Marine Corps Reserves. George’s brother told him DO NOT COME TO VIETNAM. To make sure, Jim enlisted for a second term in the Marines to keep George out of the conflict.

George enlisted in the Marine Corp Reserves. From June to December 1970 George was based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina living on base. From 1971 to 1976 he was a reservist training three days a month and two weeks every summer.

After basic training George was hired by the Hertz Corporation as a Senior Auditor. He traveled all over the United States spending two to three months in each location completing his auditing duties.

George was sent to audit in Seattle where he met another Margaret to add to his Sister, Mother and Aunt. When George met her and asked her name he revealed how many Margaret’s there were in his family. She said, “Oh no! Not another family where someone calls Margaret and three people turn around!”

George quit his job in New York and moved to Seattle, and married his Margaret in 1972. This was a time called the "Boeing Bust," which resulted in the loss of over 60% of the company's workforce due to a combination of market over-saturation and the cancellation of key projects. In fact there was a billboard on Aurora Avenue close to Margaret’s family home that read,”Would the last person leaving Seattle, Please turn off the lights?”

No one expected George to be able to get a job. He had one in two weeks. George credited being offered a job to his answer to the question, “What have you been doing with yourself in the last two weeks?” He replied that he had taken a decorative cast iron bed frame to be sandblasted and he was refinishing it by painting it white on his in-laws back patio.

• From 1972 until 1974 George held the position of Corporate Cash Manager for Safeco Insurance. He had to shave his mustache. Margaret was very unhappy. He moved on after obtaining his CPA Credentials. From 1974 to 1983 he was Vice President and Treasurer/Controller of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. During this time his son Michael George Durller was born. George said it was the happiest day of his life. Then Rachelle Margaret Durller was born. He said his family was perfect with one boy and one girl. During 1983 to 1989 he was Vice President and Division Controller for Retail Banking at Rainier National Bank of Seattle. He left to move to Boise. From 1989 to1998 George was Vice President for Administration Reporting to the Bank President. First he worked for West One Bank, Boise then the bank was sold to US Bank. George had to watch as programs he designed and implemented were scrapped. His reaction was not positive. Then he was asked to move to Minneapolis, Minnesota or Portland, Oregon. George refused because he didn’t want to sell his rental management business or most importantly to move his daughter to a new state. There she would need to be re-certified with all the paperwork involved with Health and Welfare. Margaret wasn’t thrilled either. She has just reinstated her teaching Certificate in Idaho.
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Margaret and George switched positions. He took over Durller Real Estate and Shelly’s programs. Margaret began working in the Boise School District. George also made Margaret breakfast every morning and dinner every night.

Eventually, the pair sold a 4-plex and bought a house in McCall a place George was totally in love with. He started ice skating again, everyone went fishing, it was the perfect get away. A granddaughter Brooklyn also loved to play in the snow, ice skate or swim in warm weather. They started moving out of the rental business because neither Margaret or George wanted to stay home..

George took Margaret traveling every summer. They visited their son everywhere around the United States that Michael was working. It wasn't just Michael, but a daughter in law, and two granddaughters who were a big draw. George never failed to stop at whatever Antique Mall Auction House or interesting spot they were able to find along the way. All Margaret had to do was ask.

Margaret and George remodeled one final house for Shelly and Brooklyn in the Hickories. Eventually they bought another home for themselves six minutes away. It was a perfect place for a small dog, so Quincy joined the family. He was supposed to be Margaret’s dog however he bonded with George.

George was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2022. He was exposed to industrial solvents, and other the toxic chemicals in the water at Camp Lejeune in his early twenties. His doctor suggested that he probably had Parkinson's ten or more years earlier, but no one knew.

George continued to wear his flag pins or Marine Corps Emblem almost daily. It was always a miracle when one of them made it through the wash!

When people asked George how he was doing he always said fine even though he was not. The trials he faced were steep. Dementia eventually overtook Parkinson’s in severity. George died on April 9, 2026. He will leave a void in the lives of his wife, children and granddaughters.

George made a difference with a smile on his face. He didn’t complain about the circumstances he found himself in. George always put his family first. He will live on in our hearts and memories, and in time we will all be together again.