Gaffney, Leroy Hugh Leroy Hugh Gaffney, of Dallas, Texas, born March 27, 1920, the youngest of three children of Lee and Matilda Anderson Gaffney of Oak Cliff. His father having died during the Depression, Leroy joined his older brother Jack and sister Mary in supporting the family while finishing grammar school. He attended Sunset High School, where he was catcher of the varsity baseball team and an ROTC commander. He enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor and served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corp desert campaign attached to the British 8th Army in Egypt, including the infamous "Black Sunday" air raid on Axis oil fields, the single deadliest strategic bombing mission of the USAAF. He then served in the campaigns through Sicily and Italy, being awarded the Purple Heart twice for wounds in combat. He returned from the war to Oak Cliff and married the girl across the street, Myriam Katherine Brazeal. In 1953, Myriam was struck with paralysis during the Polio Epidemic and, during her long recovery, Leroy worked two jobs in addition to his nights at hospitals and clinics. They were married 46 years until Myriam's death. Leroy worked his entire career at Dixie Wax Paper Company of Oak Cliff (later Dixico); and was a long-time member and deacon at Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his son Donald and his wife Debby of Phoenix, his daughter Elaine of Mesquite, and niece Donna Gaffney Libby of Oak Cliff, his five grandchildren, Brian, Colin, Caitlin, Stephanie, and Laura, and his great-granddaughter Molly McKenzie Gaffney. Brave against adversity, tolerant when others were not, and loyal to family and friends, Leroy Gaffney was the rock on which others always relied. Texas will raise up greater men; it will not raise better. Funeral services will be held at Laurel Land Funeral Home at 6000 South R. L. Thornton Freeway, Dallas, TX 75232, at Noon on Tuesday, December 27, 2011. In lieu of flowers, consider contributions to Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

Dallas Morning News, The (TX) — Saturday, December 24, 2011
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