Obituary posted by : Cheryl Wilson , daughter | Person Description: | LeRoy E. Caffarella left this life and went on to his eternal reward on Sunday evening, March 2, 2008. LeRoy is survived by his wife of 60 years, Thelma (White) Caffarella and his seven children, Thomas Caffarella (Grand Island NY), Timothy Caffarella (San Diego CA), Linda Canterbury (Tucson), Cheryl Wilson (Tucson), Joy Fields (Tucson), Dale Simmons (Longview TX) and Dawn Hackett (Edgewood NM). He is also survived by his only sibling, Thelma Willwerth (Easton, MA), as well as 25 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
| Born on May 29, 1927, LeRoy started his life in Malden, MA, the son of Charles Edward Caffarella and Mary Sophronia (Flewelling) Caffarella. At a young age, Roy showed a gift for music and went on to become quite an accomplished musician. He often played piano at USO events in his hometown, although his primary musical outlet was playing piano, singing and directing choirs at church services and youth camps. He continued to direct church choirs even after moving from Massachusetts to Arizona, in his capacity as Minister of Music at various Tucson churches, which lasted into the1990s. Roy passed his love of music on to all of his children, who in turn, passed it on to their children. Roy and Thelma moved their family to Tucson in August 1961 for health reasons. Roy accepted a position at St Mary's Hospital, where he worked for almost 20 years, eventually becoming a Respiratory Therapist. He retired from his medical career while employed at Tucson General Hospital, where he made many life-long friends in the medical field. Even though Roy worked full time at the hospitals during the day, he took time during the evenings and weekends to run the music programs at Central Church of the Nazarene, then Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene, and finally, First Church of the Nazarene, respectively. He also found time to help teach fine arts to prisoners at the Prison Camp (Molino Basin) on Mt Lemmon during the 1960s. Roy loved to learn and found something about which to be curious on almost any given subject. He was intensely proud of his children and grandchildren and participated in as much of their lives as was physically possible, always encouraging them along the way. He set quite an example as a man of God and never wavered in his commitment to love and serve his Savior, Jesus Christ. He would often take a few minutes to pray with someone who was going through a particularly difficult time, whether he knew them well or not. Worshiping, especially through music, was his favorite thing to do. Loving husband and father, uncle, grampy, great-grampy, friend, instructor...all of these describe LeRoy. He will be sorely missed by all left here on earth. We look forward to celebrating with him in heaven someday! Service Information: | A Celebration of Life for both Roy, and his grandson Jared Caffarella, will be held on Saturday, March 8th, 10:00am, at Christ Community Church, 7801 E Kenyon Dr, Tucson, Arizona. The church is located on the northwest corner of Pantano Road and Kenyon Drive, between Broadway and 22nd Street (adjacent to Mt View Nazarene). |  | |||||||||||||||