Joseph Leo Gaffey, husband of Jean Moran Gaffey of Southview Drive, Wallingford, died Thursday, December 13 after a brief illness. He was born in Meriden on January 29, 1919 the son of John W. and Theresa (Gorman) Gaffey. He attended St. Joseph School and graduated in 1936 from Meriden High School, where he was elected to the National Honor Society. He was also a member of the 1935-1936 Meriden High School basketball team that won both the state and New England championships. Following his graduation from high school, he began his long career in the insurance business, starting as a clerk for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and later joining the sales department where he worked for six years. Following the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in February 1942 in the U.S. Army Air Corps where he served with the Eighth Air Force in Europe. He achieved the rank of First Sergeant, serving as an aircraft maintenance supervisor with the 44th and 392nd Bomb Groups. After his discharge from the Army in 1945, he returned to Meriden and re-joined the sales department at Metropolitan Life where he earned several sales awards, and became the general office supervisor for the company's eastern district office. In 1951, he left Metropolitan to establish the Joseph. L. Gaffey Insurance Agency in Wallingford which he owned and operated until his retirement in 1987. An avid skier, he skied throughout the northeast and took annual ski vacations to Aspen, Colorado, Utah and Austria. His passion for the sport extended well into his eighth decade. He also traveled extensively with Jean, his wife of 65 years, throughout Europe, the British Isles Scandinavia and Hawaii. He was a long-time member of the Wallingford Rotary Club, the Wallingford Board of Independent Insurance Agents and the New Haven Ski Club. He was a parishioner of The Church of the Resurrection. He is survived by two sons, William J. Gaffey and his wife Jill of Durham and James M. Gaffey and his wife Ruth of Wallingford; two daughters, Mrs. Michael (Anita) Freezer of Norfolk, England, and Mrs. Brian (Jean) Jones of Winchester; eleven grandchildren and ten great- grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Katherine G. Dorsey of Meriden. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Church of the Resurrection on December 21, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. In accordance with Joe's wishes, there will be no calling hours. Arrangements are under the direction of the B.C. Bailey Funeral Home, 273 South Elm St., Wallingford.