Thomas Duffy: Refuge in the
Mountains
When Thomas Duffy and Ray Cower were in ninth grade,
they won third prize for a model they made, a coffee can
attached to a drill that flung moisture from a wet rag
inside. Was it centripetal or centrifugal force? Mr.
Cower has forgotten. But both forces worked on the
friends, who met in first or second grade, played school
sports together in Oneonta, N.Y., and were transferred
numerous places through their jobs, often not far from
each other.
Mr. Duffy, 52, lived in Pittsford, N.Y., and was a
senior vice president at Marsh & McLennan. He found
special solace at the family's camp on Little Long Lake
in the Adirondacks, said Cyndy Duffy, his wife of 30
years. "With our moving so much, and not really being
able to settle down and say this is home for good, camp
was always there," she said. "It was always the one place
that never changed."
They had two sons, Jason, 26, and Ryan, 19, whom he
coached in a variety of sports. "He always had his own
way of letting you know if he was proud of you," Ryan
Duffy said, "just by being there." Jason has a son,
Dylan, who is almost 2. Mr. Duffy was teaching him how to
shoot baskets. "He was really looking forward to taking
him up to camp in the summer, and teaching him how to
swim," Mrs. Duffy said.
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