Thomas Dominic Flaherty Jr., the son of Kathleen M. Barrett and Thomas Flaherty Sr., was born on October 3, 1931 in Providence, RI. In his preparation for West Point, he graduated from LaSalle Academy High School in Providence and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA for one year. Thomas, our dad, received a congressional appointment to the Academy.
While at West Point, we read in our dad’s Howitzer yearbook that academics came relatively easy to him, and his good nature made him popular with his classmates and a true friend of everyone. We couldn’t agree more. We (all five of us!) saw all of this in our dad while we were young, and as we became adults we valued his wisdom, guidance and support even more.
Our dad was so proud to be a West Point graduate. He and my mom had a tradition of going to a football game at West Point each fall with a group of classmates, and they talked about and prepared for it all summer and fall! His one dollar bet on the annual Army-Navy Game with a neighbor who was a Navy grad was continued until dad died in 2020. Even though his career in the service was relatively short, our dad kept his crew cut until 1985, and we all felt the discipline he was taught at West Point growing up! His biggest claim to fame was that he was in the movie The Long Gray Line (but we don’t know if this is true). We are not “Army brats,” but that doesn’t mean we didn’t learn about what a great place West Point was and benefit from the lessons and qualities West Point instilled in our dad. This included his three sons spit-shining their shoes every Saturday night in preparation for Sunday Mass and lining up Sunday morning to be sure their belt buckles were properly aligned!
Upon graduation from West Point, dad spent three years honorably serving his country in various locations, including Fort Hood, TX and Fort Bliss, TX. He left active military in 1957 as a first lieutenant to join Bell Laboratories as an engineer.
Our dad worked at the Bell System for 30 years, retiring in 1985 as an assistant vice president with NYNEX. Upon his retirement, he pursued his next chapter: first working for the Town of Lynnfield and then co-founding and serving as president of Executive PC Education Centers, followed by TDF Associates consulting services.
He shared his love of mathematics by teaching at Endicott College, Boston University and Quinsigamond Community College.
Our dad obtained his master’s degree from New York University in 1960 and his doctorate in education from Boston University in 1983. Always an avid student, in his free time he studied to become a phlebotomist and EKG technician, putting those skills to practice as a rescue squad volunteer and working for several local hospitals. We think our dad was one of the smartest people alive (a very biased assessment of course!).
As important as all this was to him, he always said his greatest achievement in life was raising his five children and celebrating the accomplishments of his 11 grandchildren, who fondly called him “Papa” and loved to visit and text with him regularly. Family gatherings were what he enjoyed most; he was always looking forward to and asking about the next one: Watch Hill, RI weekend; March in Marco Island, FL; Golden Eagle cottages on Cape Cod, MA; cookouts in Lynnfield, MA; and holidays and dining out, just to name a few. Family meant everything to our dad, and he was always planning ways to bring us all together.
All who knew our dad adored this humble and generous man. We miss him every day, but we know he would be so honored and proud to be a part of the Class of 2024 with his ring. It is such a special way for his legacy to be remembered.
— The children of Thomas Flaherty: Tom, Bob, Bill, Ann, and Donna