LACONIA ---- On Wednesday, July 31, 2024, the Laconia Public Library lost one of its most devoted patrons, as Laconia resident and voracious reader Joseph Eugene Flaherty has passed.
Joe, known as "JEF" to his family, was born to Joseph Eugene Flaherty and Margery Ann (Poland) Flaherty in Winchester, Massachusetts, on March 6, 1951. He grew up in Winchester, the middle child of nine, where he played football at Winchester High School just like his father and his cousin Joe Bellino before him. Legend has it that high school was also when Joe may have “borrowed” a Winchester public works truck to get his girlfriend home after his car wouldn’t start following a night of shenanigans on the town (not his fault the keys were left in it).
After graduation, Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Korea and Germany, where he first developed a lifelong love for military history and film. In the early ‘70s, Joe migrated north to Laconia where he managed the Riverbank House, which was a boarding house for men at that time, then worked as an electro-mechanical technician then foreman at the Allen-Rogers woodturning plant. After Allen-Rogers closed in 1999, Joe worked at Molex Manufacturing in Gilford, then held a variety of positions for Belknap County and the city of Laconia.
Joe’s love of reading was legendary. Recommend a book to him and you’d often just hear, “Already read it.” His favorite subjects were nonfiction and military history, and he had an extensive collection of vintage American and international military weapons, uniforms, and hats (plus a few sombreros in honor of his impressive chili-making skills).
Joe is survived by siblings Neil Flaherty and wife Mary of Gilford, Paul Flaherty and wife Ellen of Falmouth, Massachusetts, Owen Flaherty of Richmond, Texas, Mary Elizabeth Flaherty of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Regis Garvey and her husband Rick of Sioux City, Iowa, and Michael Flaherty of LeRay, New York, plus many nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
He was predeceased by his parents, Joseph and Margery, and by brothers Sean Flaherty and Christopher Flaherty.
There are no calling hours.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later time.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to wilkinsonbeane.com.