Geraldine Mary (Smith) Duffey

Geraldine (Gerry/Gigi) Duffey b. 1/13/1937, d. 3/25/2020

Gerry was born in Boston on January 13, 1937, the younger of Geraldine and James Smith’s two daughters.  Gerry had a happy childhood, splitting time between the family home in West Roxbury and the summer cottage in Sandhills, Scituate.  It was during school vacations and summers that the family was joined by Gerry’s Mother’s young cousin, Alice, known by her surname, Tobin.  Gerry and Tobin remained extremely close during their lives.

In 1953, Gerry and her parents moved to the cottage as full time residents to be near Gerry’s elder sister, Alice, who lived in the house next door with her husband Eddie Damon (a Scituate native) and their baby daughter, Susan.  After graduating from Scituate High School in 1954, Gerry split her time between her job at the Nell Fisher Shop, a ladies’ clothing store in Scituate Harbor and babysitting her niece.  It was while babysitting Susan Gerry met Ed Duffey, a Scituate Firefighter and childhood friend of Eddie Damon.

Gerry and Ed married on August 17, 1957 and had three children – Mary, James (Jim) and Gerald.  Gerry loved caring for her family as a full-time Mom and was a prodigious baker.  The children, her niece Susan, nephew Edward and all of their friends fondly remember her chocolate chip cookies, brownies and cakes.  Gerry was also devoted to her parents and she and her family spent many hours with them, most importantly days at Sandhills beach with Gerry’s Dad, Grampa Smith.

In 1969 Gerry and her family sold their home, which had been built by Gerry and Ed as newly-weds, and moved to Gerry’s parents’ house in the Sandhills to be near her parents, who had moved to daughter Alice’s home after her family relocated to Maine.  As Gerry’s children were all in school full-time she began teaching CCD for St. Mary of the Nativity, which she continued to do even when she no longer had any children in the program, and joined the St. Mary Ladies’ Guild.  Gerry even got her driver’s license when her two older children were in high school.  After her Dad’s death in 1977, Gerry and her family cared for her Mother, who eventually moved in with the family and lived with them until her death in 1981.

After her Mom’s death, Gerry began to work outside of her home, first as a caregiver to the elderly and later as a babysitter.  After surviving the complete flooding of their Sandhills home in the blizzard of 1978 and subsequent storms, Gerry and Ed moved to high ground to their Vinal Ave home in 1989.  Shortly after moving to Vinal Ave, Gerry became the babysitter for Erin, the baby daughter of Bob and Debbie McIntyre.  Gerry often said taking care of Erin was one of the happiest times of her life and was her Nana from infancy through her early teen years.  After Gerry’s son Jim, his wife Sue and their two children, Kevin and Erin, moved back to Scituate from up-state New York, Gerry became their after-school babysitter.

After Ed’s retirement from the Fire Department, Ed and Gerry, who had always loved Irish music, especially the Clancy Brothers, became devoted followers of the Noel Henry Irish Show Band and spent many happy weekends at events sponsored by the band, along with their friends, the Donnellys, the Brennans and the Gerrys.

Unfortunately, Gerry started to have memory issues in her late sixties and ultimately became a resident of the Cardigan Nursing Home in Scituate in the spring of 2016.  The staff at Cardigan took wonderful care of Gerry and her family is eternally grateful to them, especially Ruthie Ribeiro (who, as a child, had Gerry as a CCD teacher) and Theresa.

A Private graveside service was held. During this difficult time, please leave words of comfort or send a note to the family through the funeral home. 

 A Memorial Mass and Celebration of Geraldine will be announced at a later time. Donations to honor Geraldine may be made to the Alzheimer's Association at https://www.alz.org/manh.

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