George H. Proffitt

George Henry Joseph Proffitt died on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at HOCC New Britain after a brief illness.  He was born in Worcester, MA on December 6, 1925, to the late George W. and Florence A. (LeClaire) Proffitt.  He was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth, infant daughter and his other daughter Anne Dupre, who was an accomplished education law professor at the University of Georgia along with his younger brother, Joseph Proffitt. He is survived by a brother, Kenneth Proffitt of Worcester, MA, many nieces and nephews and a loving companion, Frances A. Musco, of Warwick, RI. 

He grew up in Auburn, MA and graduated from Julia Bancroft School (1939) and St. Peters High School, Worcester (1943) and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark University in 1957 in Government, International Relations and Russia, under the G.I. Bill.

George enlisted in the regular U.S. Army in July 1946, took basic training in armed/infantry at Ft. Knox, KY, transferred to Counterintelligence Corps Training School in Baltimore, MD, teaching consisted of integration, planting of informants, miners, booby trappers, pistol shooting, disarming a person, lock picking and Japanese.  Following graduation, George was transferred to Ft. Lewis, Washington awaiting transfer to Japan. Landing at Yokohama, he was transferred to Sasebo for future assignment to the 441^ST CIC Detachment.  In Japan, he served the CIC in Osaka, Kagoshima and Fukuoka.  His duties were to cover outdoor meetings and demonstrations and to create and plant informants in the Japanese Communist Party (JCP).

In 1950, he attended combat intelligence school in Tokyo and in September 1951 (Korean War) he was transferred to the 30^th CIC Headquarters in Seoul, Korea where he wrote a compilation of guerrilla activities behind United Nations Lines, which were sent daily to General McArthur Headquarters (General Headquarters) in Toyko, Japan.

There, he met Elizabeth Gates where she was a school teacher on a military base and whom he married on June 19, 1951 in the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka. He was transferred to Korea and then returned to the US in April, 1952 and was honorably discharged in December 1952.

In the early 1970’s, George and Elizabeth began selling flowers at a roadside stand in Coventry and eventually opened up Ice House Flowers in Coventry, RI and George ran that business until he was 90 years old.  

In the early 1980’s, George met Frances and they became very close friends up until his passing.  They shared many good times together including attending many family events and outings, a lot of traveling and winters spent in FL.  

In 2021, George moved to Southington, CT to live closer to his nieces and nephews and their families and resided at The Orchards where he made many new friends and got involved in many activities within the community.  He so enjoyed spending quality time with his nephews and nieces and grand nieces and nephews at many family gatherings.  He had two special friends, Chris and Andrew, from Rhode Island who often visited him and took him out on various outings that enabled them to explore their love of History.  Their visits to him at The Orchards were a highlight for George. Most recently as of May 2023, they flew to Washington, DC to visit the military monuments planned by the RI Honor Guard. George lived a very full life.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at St. Luke Parish at St. Dominic's Church, 1050 Flanders Road, Southington. Burial with Military Honors will be held at the family’s convenience at the RI Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 301 S. County Trail, Exeter, Rhode Island where he will be laid to rest with his wife, Elizabeth. Plantsville Funeral Home has been entrusted with handling the funeral arrangements. For online condolences and directions, please visit www.plantsvillefuneralhome.com.