Walter Garvey

GARVEY, Walter Anthony, died peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family Friday, July 18, 2014, of congestive heart failure, which had afflicted him only recently. Born on Friday, January 13 (a lucky day in his family), 1921, he met and married his beloved wife Jane Dillon in Binghamton where both of their extended families had resided since coming to America from counties Clare and Limerick in the Irish Famine years. Devotedly together for 69 years before Jane’s death on March 20, 2010, they raised and educated five children in Binghamton and, since 1954, in Vestal. Walter was the son of Maude L. Price and Walter A. Garvey and the grandson of Hanora Honan and Anthony Garvey, a well-known brewery and restaurant owner in Binghamton. He worked from the age of 14 in several professions, from boy clerk in the Hinman, Howard, and Kattel offices to circulation manager for the Endicott Daily Bulletin newspaper to grocer. He became a licensed public accountant, known for his audit and finance work for the Binghamton School District and the Montrose General Hospital and Nursing Home. He also did tax preparation for long-standing clients into his 90s, including especially his oldest friend, William “Pete” Byrnes, whose 2013 return Walter completed just a few weeks before Pete’s death this spring. Walter was a painter all his life, spending many an off-day at his easel. It was common for his clothes to show smudges of oil paint and charcoal, either from his pencils or his pipe. Unable to continue formal studies after high school, he believed in life-long learning and supported education for all. In his seventies and semi-retired, he entered St. Leo’s College, where he read philosophy and theology and literature with great pleasure, accepting the outstanding student in religion award for 1996–97. A devout Catholic, he was a communicant of St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Binghamton and then of Our Lady of Sorrows in Vestal; and a Fourth Degree member and Past Grand Knight of the Binghamton Knights of Columbus, a member of the Nocturnal Adoration Society, and a lector. He is survived by his children, W. Anthony (Tony) Garvey of Waterford, VA; John F. (Jack) Garvey of Ashburn, VA; Diane Garvey Nesin of New York City; Sharon E. Roney of Vestal, NY; and Patricia A. (Patti) Davis of Vestal, NY, and their spouses, by several nieces and nephews, especially Pat Garvey and Peter Dayger, and proudly by his beloved grandchildren, Cara L. Garvey Coleman of Waterford, VA; Ryan W. Garvey of Los Gatos, CA; John F. (Jay) Garvey of Marysville, PA; Brian D. Garvey of Ashburn, VA ; Kate D. Nesin of Chicago, IL; S. Grace Nesin of Hudson, NY; Erin L. Davis-Bennett of Madison, NJ; and Russell G. Davis of Washington, DC, and their families. And to his great joy, he is survived by 12 great-grandchildren, and a 13th due on what would be his 94th birthday, January 13, 2015. With gratitude and special regard, the family thanks Dr. Jagraj Rai, his personal physician, and Keesa Ragsdale, his personal nursing aide, for the wonderful care they took of Walter.
Funeral Services will be held Tuesday 10:30 am from the Allen Memorial Home, 511-513 East Main Street, Endicott, followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 am at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 801 Main Street, Vestal. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Johnson City. The family will receive friends at the Allen Memorial Home Tuesday from 9:30 am until the prayer service at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy in Walter’s memory may be made to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, 388 Upper Oakwood Avenue, Elmira, NY 14903.