Richard Jefferson Flaherty

On Tuesday, June 1, 2021, Captain Richard “Dick” J. Flaherty passed away at the age of 80 at his home in Oriental, NC with his wife Penny and daughters Lisa, Kathy, and Susan by his side. His brother Robert, sister-in-law, Laura, and nephews, Brian and Daniel were also nearby at the end.  Dick has three grandchildren who love him very much: Michael (deceased 2019), Casimir, and Ondine.

Dick was born in Ohio in 1941 and quickly began his nomadic ways, moving to Los Angeles, CA as a child, then moving to and growing up in Chicago, IL. He was active in scouting and was a Life Rank Scoutmaster at Philmont Ranch in New Mexico.  He graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL with a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and was a distinguished group commander in the AFROTC.  He then moved to Albuquerque, NM where he became a Captain in the Air Force and got his Master of Science in Engineering and an MBA.  There his first wife Judy (deceased 1984) and he had their first two daughters Lisa and Kathy.  After the Air Force, in 1969, he got a job with IBM (“I’ve Been Moved”) and lived twice in Lexington, KY, twice in Boulder, CO and once in Franklin Lakes, NJ.  He and Judy were blessed with their third daughter, Susan, in Boulder in 1978.

Dick married Penny Brose in 1985.  In 1995, he retired and moved to St Petersburg, FL and became a Captain once again, this time in the nautical sense, sailing throughout the Caribbean on their 40-foot catamaran.   After his Caribbean adventures, small town Oriental, NC became home, and Penny and he lived his last years in the loving company of his wonderful friends and neighbors there.

Dick loved the outdoors, traveling and fixing things. He was an athlete in non-competitive outdoor sports: hiker, skier, diver, bicyclist and sailor (he saved his competitive talents for cards and other games with his family and was famous for almost always winning).  Dick’s Scouting career, Air Force career, corporate career, and post-retirement sailing career offered great opportunities to travel and he saw much of the world, visiting every continent except Antarctica.   A real Mr Fixit, Dick loved gadgets and puzzles that would have daunted others.  His family always knew “Dad’ll fix it” and will miss his genius with electronics, carpentry, bread making, basket weaving and more.  Sailing’s combination of outdoor sport, travel and use of precision gadgetry had a tremendous pull on him and he spent much of his life on the water.

With a full, eventful life came lots and lots of stories.  Anyone who met Dick heard at least a few and he enjoyed exchanging tales with old and new friends.  Dick will be remembered for being kind, patient, gentlemanly, funny, athletic, strong, and super smart.   He will be missed every day, and while his family will now have to figure out how to fix things themselves, they will have a better chance at winning a card game.