Mr. John J. Carty Obituary (1929

John J. Carty of Attleboro and Rockport, Massachusetts, died peacefully at home on Saturday, November 30, 2019. He was 90 years old and recently celebrated that milestone birthday with extended family at a favorite local restaurant. Born in Springfield in 1929 to James E. and Mary F. (Cullen) Carty, he lived there until he enlisted in the US Navy in 1947. A 1946 graduate of Cathedral High School, John served his country aboard the escort carrier USS Palau from 1947-50, between World War II and at the start of the Korean War. He took full advantage of training and travel opportunities in the Navy and was very proud when his son James followed in his footsteps. A firm believer in the importance of education and the opportunities it opened up, he used his GI Bill benefits and earned his BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1953 and his MBA from Harvard University in 1955. He took a job with Ernst and Ernst after graduate school, but in 1963 found his true calling when he joined the faculty of Stonehill College. He retired from there as Professor Emeritus in 2007, at the age of 77, having taught accounting in the Business Administration Department for 43 academic years, chaired the department for several years, and regaled thousands of students with anecdotes from his travels and family life. Nothing made his eyes sparkle like sharing knowledge or telling a story. He also maintained his CPA certification in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and worked part-time for many years at Gamache, O’Brien & O’Neill in Attleboro. In 1955, he met Anne Lyons at a Newman Society dance in Boston. He won her heart with his conversation, adventurousness, and his two summer hats. They married on June 21, 1958, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Hanson. They traveled the world together, starting with a 6-week honeymoon in Europe including the World’s Fair in Brussels and visits to many countries in a car they bought in Germany and later shipped home. Other travels included many memorable trips back to Ireland, Scotland, and continental Europe, flying over the Andes in an unpressurized plane while exploring Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, many road trips to Quebec and the Canadian Maritime provinces, Japan while his son was stationed there, and all around the US, driving cross-country more than once. They started a family in 1966 and shared their love of travel with their four children. The time off that came with a career in teaching allowed for many family trips and long summer days at their cottage on Long Beach in Rockport, where countless family celebrations have happened over the years, including weddings and milestone anniversaries and birthdays, and where a house full of family and friends always guaranteed hours of laughter at the dining room table and the offer of tours of the area personally guided by John. Each summer he would save the local newspaper’s guide to dining on Cape Ann and enthusiastically begin checking off and annotating the places he ate at. He chose to be buried near the cottage with a view of the ocean so he’s never far from family gatherings. His neuropathy limited his mobility in retirement, but John and Anne did celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with trips to Ireland and the Canadian Rockies, and he was an enthusiastic armchair traveler as his children and grandchildren explored the world. John was active in his adopted hometown of Attleboro, serving on the School Committee for 14 years, including several as Chairman, and he was honored in June for his 26 years as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Attleboro Public Library. He became a Trustee in 1993 and maintained the books until earlier this year, closing fiscal 2018 before he was hospitalized in January. He was a devout Catholic and a member of St. John the Evangelist Church and the Serra Club of the Attleboros. He had a keen love of history and geography and connected with people through his broad knowledge and interests. He was insatiably curious about the world, about people and places, always asking questions and listening to people’s stories, tucking information away in his sharp mind and pulling out relevant, obscure, and interesting facts in conversation. He could talk to anyone and his face would light up when he had a chance to tell his stories. He read widely and had an astonishing memory. The Jumble Puzzle in the morning paper and Jeopardy after dinner kept his mind sharp right to the end, often with some friendly competition with his home health aides. Three days before he died, he was stumping aides and family with increasingly difficult math problems. He was proud of his Irish heritage and his Springfield roots. His love of attending college football games and live theatre and trying new foods was infectious. In addition to his parents, John was predeceased his only sibling James Ambrose Carty and his wife Helen Joyce (Moore), his dear aunt Mary J. (Mae) Carty who helped raise John and Ambrose after the death of their mother in 1946, all of Springfield, and his uncle Reverend John J. Carty, M.S., of Our Lady of LaSalette Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, who celebrated John and Anne’s wedding. He is survived by his beloved wife of more than 61 years, Anne (Lyons) and their four children, Mary Jane Brown and her husband Brian of Hamilton, Anna (Nancy) Chermak and her husband Rob of Biddeford, Maine, James (Commander, USN, retired) and his wife Julia of Winchester, Virginia, and John Francis and his wife Zhen of Needham. He is survived by seven grandchildren who were an endless source of pride and joy, Anna (Gillis) Jackson and her husband Dwight, Dylan Gillis, Owen Gillis, Elizabeth Carty, Thomas Carty, Margaret Brown, and Luke Carty, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. He saw his role in life as that of a steward, and he was an excellent one, guiding his children and their children in decisions across the realms of faith, finance, education, career, travel, and service to country and community. He knew what he wanted in life and he made a plan to make it happen, right down to his desire to remain at home in his final days. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 11 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church in Attleboro, with visitation at Duffy-Poule Funeral Home, 20 Peck St., from 9-10:30 a.m. that morning. Interment will take place on Friday, December 6, at noon at Calvary Cemetery, 151 Eastern Avenue, Gloucester, MA. Friends and family are kindly invited. Memorial donations in his name to the Friends of the Attleboro Public Library (APLFriends.org or 74 North Main Street, Attleboro, MA 02703) or The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette (LaSaletteAttleboroShrine.org or 947 Park Street, Attleboro, MA 02703) would be a generous and much appreciated way to honor John and advance work that was important to him.