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MANVILLE – George Nelson Quigley died Nov. 10 at home. He was 95.
Born in Mongo, La Grange County, Ind., he moved to New Jersey in 1915 and settled in Neshanic, he then moved to Manville in 1927 where he lived the rest of his life.
Mr. Quigley was a U.S. Postal employee in the Manville Post Office for 18 years. Afterward, he opened Quigley’s Bicycle Shop on North Main Street and remained the owner-operator for 45 years until his retirement at age 86 in 1995. He was fondly known as "The Bicycle Man." Quigley’s Bicycle Shop was an authorized Schwinn bicycle dealership and throughout the decades he sold and repaired thousands of bicycles.
In 1973 and 1974 he attained membership in the Schwinn 500 Club, a distinction held by Schwinn dealers who sold 500 or more new Schwinn bicycles in one year.
At age 74, Mr. Quigley toured England and Holland by bicycle for two weeks with Euro-Bike Tours of Chicago. After he turned 80, he bicycled again through France with the same organization. At age 83 he completed the 40-mile Five-Boro Bike Tour, held in New York, in one day. Mr. Quigley celebrated his 90th birthday by taking a 10-mile bike ride from Manville to Hillsborough via Rt. 206 and back again.
His wife, Mildred (Avella) Quigley, died in 1981.
Survivors include a son, Nelson, M.D. of Dana Point, Calif.; two daughters, Rose Jamieson of Phillipsburg, and Antoinette DiBella of Smithville; a sister, Jane Mole; five grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Nov. 15 from Ketusky Funeral Home in Manville with the Rev. Alex Leonovich officiating. Burial was in Neshanic Cemetery in Hillsborough.
Memorial donations may be made to Community Care Hospice, 586 E. Main St., Bridgewater, 08807.
