Background
Reilly Fitzgerald was born on 13 Sept. in 1967 in St. Johns. Ten days later, he and his mother boarded a plane and flew to meet his father in Wabush, an iron-ore town in Labrador West which was to be their home for the next eleven years. Reilly's father, Gerald, originally from Tilton, NL, was a general foreman at Wabush Mines, and his mother, Rose, raised in Cupid's Crossing, NL, was a stay-at-home mom. Reilly is the oldest of four children.
Education
Reilly attended J. R. Smallwood Collegiate in Wabush, NL for his primary and elementary school years and attended high school at the Christian Brother-run boys school, St. Francis in Harbour Grace, NL. Reilly was an above-average student whose artistic skills revealed themselves early. Reilly was recognized regularly for his artistic abilities and won several art awards during his school years. While still attending Grade 11 and 12 at St. Francis, Reilly also completed a correspondence art course and received his diploma with honours in Fine Art by the time he graduated high school.
Career
Reilly Fitzgerald was a plasterer and painter early in his career, until the almost constant pain in his malformed right arm and hand forced him to stop. While receiving Social Assistance, Reilly volunteered at many local schools in Conception Bay, NL, as President of Home & School Association, St. Edward's, Brigus, a parent representative of the Holy Redeemer School Council, Spaniard's Bay, NL, and a visiting artist in the classroom. He also taught private art lessons to children and adults.
At this time he also completed his formal education with funding from a program called Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled Persons (VRDP) and received his BA in 1998 and his BEd in 1999 from MUN.
That year he accepted a replacement teaching position at Clarenville High School, and he, his wife, and their young family made a move to the area they would eventually call "home".
After almost 10 years of being an educator at several schools in the Clarenville area, and a multi-faceted volunteer, chronic pain and physical limitations once again caused Reilly to end a career.
His physical pain left him unable to perform many activities, but he still had one of his original interests, art and painting, which was a therapeutic activity he performed almost continuously as his pain allowed.
Reilly would give his art to his children, who in turn would sell it as part of their own business ventures. A social media following eventually began to grow, and knowledge and appreciation for Reilly's art continues to increase.