Edward J. Doherty, of Riverhead, died March 8, 2014 after a valiant battle with kidney cancer. He was 83 years old.
Born July 11, 1930 in Queens, he was the middle child of seven sons born to NYC policeman Patrick Doherty and his wife Mary (Hennigan.)
He grew up in Ridge and graduated from Port Jefferson High School. He met his future wife Helen Hololob at the Ridgecrest Restaurant and Lounge in Ridge. They were married on Nov. 15, 1953 at St. John the Baptist Church in Wading River. They settled in Riverhead, where they would raise a family of seven children. They built a house on Mill Road in 1963, in an area then known as “Teuberville” — theirs was the first family to settle there that wasn’t a member of the Teuber clan.
Doherty worked as a “Dugan’s Man” and as a mechanic at the Ellis Moore auto repair shop. While working there, he learned of an opening for a mechanic in the Riverhead school district transportation department. He got the job, went on to become head mechanic and then became supervisor of the department, a post he held for 34 years. He retired in 1987, but he remained a “household name” over at the district bus garage to this day, said his daughter, Janet Doherty Dickerson. At the bus barn, Doherty earned the nickname “Safety Sam,” she said.
Doherty was inducted into the N.Y. Association of Pupil Transportation Hall of Fame and also won the organization’s Art Shock award, given to a transportation director who demonstrates outstanding service and dedication to student transportation.
In his retirement, Doherty worked as a consultant for Eastern Suffolk BOCES, instructing school bus drivers in preparation for their biennial evaluation exams by the state.
He served as the chairman of the Riverhead Central School District budget vote “for many, many years,” Dickerson said. It was a role he filled until 2011, when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He valiantly fought the disease for three years and maintained his sense of humor — and his sarcasm — until the very end of his life, his daughter said.
For many years, Doherty ran the bingo games at St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church in Riverhead, where he also served as an usher and lector.
Affectionately known as “Poppy,” Doherty adored his 10 grandchildren. He enjoyed tinkering around the house and was known as “Mr. Fix-it” because he could fix anything, his daughter said. “We did sometimes refer to him as Inspector Gadget,” his daughter recalled.
“He was a very good cook. He was the grill master,” she said.
Predeceased by his wife of 56 years in January of 2010, and by all six of his brothers, Doherty is survived by his daughter, Irene, of Stuart, Fla.; his son Edward Jr. and his wife Irene, of California; his daughter, Mary Butler and her husband Michael, of Riverhead; his daughter Janet Dickerson and her husband Ken, of Cutchogue; his son Thomas, of Riverhead; his son, Paul and his wife Nancy, of Cutchogue; and his son, Stanley, of Riverhead.
He is also survived by his grandchildren: Donna, Katie and Reilly Butler; Julie and Sam Dickerson; Thomas, Michael and Kaitlyn Doherty; and Dale and Tyler Doherty.
The family will receive visitors Tuesday and Wednesday, March 11 and 12, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at McLaughlin Heppner Funeral Home, 336 Marcy Avenue, Riverhead. A funeral Mass will be offered on Thursday, March 13, at 9:30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist R.C Church in Riverhead. Interment will follow at St. John’s cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, 1111 Osborn Avenue, Riverhead NY 11901.
