OBITUARY John Robert Boffetti February 26, 1941 – January 1, 2019 John Boffetti, son of John Boffetti, Sr., and Rose Rigazio Boffetti, passed away at age 77 on December 31, 2018, in the home where he was raised in Sagamore, Massachusetts. Along with his two elder sisters, Margaret Boffetti Tonello and Stella Boffetti Aittaniemi, their family was part of the large Italian-American community that built the bridges along the Cape Cod Canal, worshipped at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, played bocce at the Marconi Club, and added their distinctive Northern Italian culture to the American melting pot. John was a graduate of Bourne High School, class of 1959.
He volunteered for military service in 1963 and did two tours of duty in Vietnam and one in the Dominican Republic as a helicopter crew chief and mechanic. He received the Army Air Medal with six Oak Leaf Clusters. He attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute and worked for Pratt & Whitney.
In 1966, he met his beloved wife, Lesley (Leitsinger) Boffetti of Roslindale, Massachusetts. They were married in 1969 and were planning to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary in June. John and Lesley raised two children, Jason and Adrienne, in Sagamore, Massachusetts, in the home where he was raised.
John returned to career military service, joining the Army National Guard and Army Reserves, where he retired as First Sergeant in helicopter flight operations. He became a survival trainer for the National Guard, having received training in the Arctic Circle. In 1980, he rededicated his life to the Lord and began attending the New Testament Church of Cedarville, where he was a member for the rest of his life.
He was the commander of Outpost 66 for the church’s Royal Rangers program and became sectional commander for Southeastern Massachusetts where he mentored a generation of men and boys. He also participated in the Frontiersmen Camping Fraternity, an advanced camping and historical reenactment program of the Royal Rangers. John was a lifetime gentleman farmer and a man of the outdoors.
He raised cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and goats on the land that once was the family chicken farm, Hillcrest Farm. In the winters, he cut cord wood to sell; in the summers, he would bale hay; and in the fall, he would help friends harvest cranberries. He was an avid camper, skier, hunter, beachgoer, and softball player.
Some of his favorite places to visit were Sedona, Arizona; Lake Como, Italy; and Orlando, Florida. He was a regular at Bourne Braves baseball games, where he smoked his cigars, usually, out of the range of other fans. In his later years, he worked for Hillcrest Landscape Supply and Sandwich Hollows Golf Course, where he loved to meet new people and keep up with old friends.
He will always be remembered around town for telling a good story or a bad joke. There was nothing he loved more than talking about his grandchildren—Olivia, Joseph, Alanna, Gianna, and Gemma—and attending their activities. His family and friends will miss him dearly and have hope to see him again in paradise, where joy abounds, there are no more tears, and he will have many new and old friends and stories to tell.
Visiting hours will be at the Nickerson-Bourne Funeral Home, 154 MA-6A, in Sandwich, on Sunday, January 6 from 2-5 pm. A church service will be held at The New Testament Church of Cedarville on Long Pond Rd, Cedarville at 10 am, Monday, January 7 followed by the burial at the National Cemetery in Bourne.
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