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Obituary
Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Comanche County, Oklahoma
Submitted by:
Jo Aguirre
Marlow & Rush Springs, Oklahoma
May 2011
Col. Robert James McCaffree
Funeral services for retired Col. Robert James McCaffree, Lawton, were held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday May 4, 2011 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church with Father Joseph R. Ross officiating. A wake service with rosary was at 7 p.m. Tuesday May 3, 2011 at Becker Funeral Home Memorial Chapel.
Internment with full military honors was at Post Cemetery, Fort Sill, under direction of Becker Funeral Home & Cremation Service
He was born on Feb. 10, 1929, in Borger, Texas, to Bradley Doras McCaffree and Sarah Ottie Phillips McCaffree and died Saturday, April 30, 2011, in Lawton. His family had deep roots in Oklahoma and he enjoyed his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage. Most of his childhood was spent in Oklahoma City in a hardscrabble neighborhood with oil derricks on nearly every block.
He married Nancy Farrell on June 2, 1954, at Fort Hamilton, New York City, and they were married 57 years.
He joined the Army in 1946 at the age of 17 and spent a year in Japan with the 11th Airborne Division as part of occupying forces. Upon his return, he attended the University of Washington for two years studying engineering and architecture. In August 1950, he reenlisted in the Army. He graduated as the Honor Graduate from Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill in March 1952 and became a U.S. Army second lieutenant.
He served in Korea as a field artillery forward observer and was awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in action on one of the last days of the conflict before the Armistice in July 1953. He then became a battery commander in the same unit. He served in similar assignments at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Nuremberg, Germany. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1962 and attended graduate school at Tulane University in 1964-1965. In 1971, he was assigned as battalion commander of a heavy artillery unit in Vietnam and his later years in the Army were as comptroller of three commands. In 1975, he was designated a Distinguished Graduate of the I n d u s t r i a l College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. He also received numerous citations including the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, a Bronze Star with "V" device, a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star and a Senior Parachutist Badge. When he retired from the Army as a colonel in August 1980, he may have been the last commissioned officer to have worn the Glider Badge awarded to him after Glider School in Japan more than 33 years earlier.
After retiring from the Army, he became the Director of Finance for the City of Lawton, a position he held until April 1991.
A broad reader with an inquiring mind, his Christian journey led him to the Catholic church, where he was received and confirmed in 1957. Wherever his military assignments took him, he was an active member of his local parish, frequently a member of the choir and engaged in charitable work. For the last 20 years, he was an active member of Blessed Sacrament Church, Lawton.A beloved husband, father, and grandfather; faithful Christian; exemplary soldier and citizen and friend to many; he will be deeply missed. May the angels lead him into paradise.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Philip.
Survivors include beloved wife Nancy; three daughters and their spouses: Lisa and Lance Wade, Lawton; Thayer McCaffree and her partner, Cindy Herron; Sheridan McCaffree and her husband, Rabindranath Ramana, Oklahoma City; two sons and their spouses: Benedict McCaffree and his partner, Emerson Bruns, Hudson, N.Y.; , Austin, Texas; and Robert McCaffree Jr., and his partner, Bryan Harrison, Los Angeles, Calif. Three adult grandchildren: Sarah, Jarrel, and Taylor Wade, living in Arkansas and Oklahoma; two young grandsons: Rabindranath and Aidan Ramana, Oklahoma City; a sister, Susan Schloredt, Seattle; and a brother, Donald, Salt Lake City, Utah.
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