At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest living former Montreal Canadiens player.

Retired from hockey, Getliffe and his wife Lorna remained in Montreal until moving to London, Ontario in 1990, where he grew up.

At the time of his death, reports claimed that he was the oldest living NHL alumnus, about four months older than ex-New York Ranger and Chicago Blackhawk Clint Smith.

[2] These reports, however, overlooked players who had only played a certain number of games, such as Louis Holmes and Al Suomi.

[3] This biographical article relating to a Canadian ice hockey winger born in the 1910s is a stub.