Obituary of William F. McCabe

William F McCabe, 91, of Kensington, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family on May 5, 2016 following a brief illness. Mr. McCabe was born in New Britain on June 18, 1924. He is the son of James and Theresa Fitzsimmons McCabe. He was married for 45 years to his loving wife the late Helen Fagan McCabe and the father of the late William H. McCabe and the late Thomas J. McCabe. He is survived by his daughter Sheila McCabe King and her husband Allen King of Kensington and Patrick E. McCabe and his wife Carol Chamberlin McCabe of West Hartford. He is also survived by his ten wonderful grandchildren Drew, Chase, Craig and Taryn McCabe, Patrick, Timothy and Colin King, and Connor, Cara and Mairin McCabe all of whom were a great source of joy and pride for him. He lived a complete and rewarding life full of love and laughter with his family and friends. Mr. McCabe left New Britain High School to enlist in the United States Army in 1942, and at the age of 18 was deployed to North Africa as a member of the Seventh Army. His service in the Army led him from North Africa to Italy and in to Corsica. On August 15 1944 he participated in the successful amphibious Allied invasion of Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon and continued in to Austria and Germany serving there until the end of the war. We honor his service to the country that he loved. Mr. McCabe was a well- known civic leader in the City of New Britain for many decades. He was elected to serve as an Alderman on the New Britain City Council for 12 terms during the 1960's, 70's and 80's. During his tenure he was elected as the Majority Leader of the Council and had a leadership role in shaping many important projects that improved and enhanced some of the city's public parks, sports venues and especially the Stanley Municipal Golf Course. He was one of the original organizers and a coach in the Fagan Youth Baseball League in New Britain. He was an usher at St. Maurice Catholic Church for forty years and a member of the Parish Council. He was a volunteer for 20 years at the Greater Hartford Open. He had a long and rewarding career in business having held many sales positions. At the time of his death he remained employed as the senior sales manager in Connecticut for the Pioneer Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio. His long career with Pioneer was a sense of great pride for him and his 40-year association with the company and their customers in New England was an inspiration to many of his younger his colleagues in the company throughout the country. A lifelong Boston Red Sox fan he often spoke of the time he traveled to Fenway Park in 1948 to see the Red Sox play the Cleveland Indians , who had identical records at the end of the regular season , in a first time ever one-game playoff for the American League Championship. It did not end well for the Sox. Fortunately like many fans of his generation he was able to see his team win 3 World Series many years later. Mr. McCabe was a talented and skilled golfer all of his life. He learned to play the game during the Great Depression when he was young caddy at the Shuttle Meadow Country Club. The game of golf gave him great pleasure and joy throughout his entire life and he has passed that love of the game, not necessarily his skills, on to his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed many trips with his son to play the great courses of Ireland, a country that he loved. He carded five hole-in-ones during his golfing career, the last one coming at the age of 85. Yes, five. He took particular joy in attending the athletic and artistic events of his children and grandchildren all of his life or watching his daughter Sheila coach the Berlin High School Girls Basketball team or his son Tom coach football at Glastonbury High School. He was a familiar figure on the sidelines or bleachers for many inter-scholastic athletic contests. He was blessed with great health and longevity and he will always be remembered as a man of great spirit, kindness, love, optimism and humor. His memory will live on with all the members of his family. Friends and family are invited to a Mass of Christian Burial Tuesday (May 10, 2016) at 10:00 AM at St. Paul's Church, Kensington. Burial will follow in St. Mary Cemetery, New Britain. Visitation will be Monday from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at the Farrell Funeral Home 110 Franklin Sq. New Britain. In lieu of flowers donation may be made to First Tee of Connecticut 55 Golf Club Road Cromwell, CT 06416.