Francis McLaughlin, Montauk Plumber

Francis Timothy McLaughlin, who grew up in Montauk and worked in the hamlet as a plumber for many years, died on Jan. 16 at Brookhaven Hospital. He was 76 and in declining health for several years, and had been living at the Medford Multi-Care Center. 

Born on Feb. 8, 1939, at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx to Frank McLaughlin and the former Mary Finn, he moved to Montauk with his family when he was a teen, in 1953. They lived in one of the few houses then on Ditch Plain Road. “We had the beach to ourselves,” his brother, John McLaughlin, who still makes his home in Montauk, said yesterday.

When he was a teenager, he worked as a mate for Paul Forsberg’s Viking Fleet. “He loved fishing,” his brother said. After graduating from East Hampton High School, Mr. McLaughlin joined the Army. In 1964, he was sent to Alaska take part in  rescue efforts following one of the most powerful earthquakes in its history, known alternately as the Great Alaskan earthquake and the Good Friday earthquake, for the day it occurred.

After returning from the military, Mr. McLaughlin followed his father in becoming a plumber and started his own company, Francis McLaughlin Plumbing and Heating.

His faith was important to him, his brother said, and he regularly attended Mass at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and traveled abroad to visit Catholic shrines, like Lourdes in France. He also “was a great singer, a great dancer. He loved life,” his brother said.

Mr. McLaughlin was married to Bonnie Nicholson, and they lived in a house on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk. The couple evenutally divorced. He is survived by two sons, Timothy Francis McLaughlin, now of Seattle, and Brian Barry McLaughlin, who lives in Los Angeles.

In addition to his brother and sons, he is survived by two sisters, Joan Lycke of Montauk and Ellen Lee of Marietta, Ga., as well as one grandchild. One of his sisters, Cathleen Warren, died several years ago.

A funeral Mass was said for him at St. Therese on Jan. 31, and he was buried at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in East Hampton.