John Francis McCaffrey, “a true son of Wainscott,” his family said, died on Aug. 21 at the Highlands Living Center in Pittsford, N.Y. He was 88 and had a recurrence of pancreatitis. A month earlier he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer.
“Like his parents, Irish immigrants, he was truly grateful for the chance to be raised in such a beautiful and bountiful area, and for all opportunities this country provided to him and his family,” his son, John McCaffrey, said.
As a young man and throughout his life, Mr. McCaffrey, who was known as Buddy, greatly enjoyed sports, rooting for the Notre Dame football team and the Villanova Wildcats basketball squad. At East Hampton High School, he was a catcher for the baseball team.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the State University at Brockport and then enlisted in the Army, serving as an infantryman in the Korean War. He went on to further his education at Alfred University in western New York, receiving two master’s degrees in the education field.
At first a teacher and later a high school guidance counselor upstate, Mr. McCaffrey and his family spent every summer vacation on the East End. An outdoorsman, he enjoyed fishing, clamming, and crabbing, be it in Gardiner’s Bay, Three Mile Harbor, or Georgica Pond. He hunted geese and ducks and as a youth trapped the freshwater ponds here.
Mr. McCaffrey was born in Wainscott on May 15, 1932, to John McCaffrey and the former Mary Bridget Lynch.
In addition to his son, who lives in Hartsdale, N.Y., he is survived by his wife, Joanne McCaffrey of Victor, N.Y., a daughter, Jacqueline Davis of Mendon, N.Y., two grandchildren, Tommy and Jack Davis, and many nieces and nephews. A brother, James McCaffrey, died before him.
A Mass was said on Friday at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, with burial following at Wainscott Cemetery.
Condolences can be expressed at palmfh.com, the website of the Palmisano-Mull Funeral Home in Geneva, N.Y.
