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Alfred (Buddy) Dunfee, BHS graduate and Beacon distributor
"He was a very warm and unassuming person who never talked about the many kind things he did for others," said his father Alfred Dunfee Jr., a former principal with the Babylon School District. "When people began to talk about Buddy at his funeral, I was amazed to learn how many people he reached out to, and the things he did for them." One thing that Buddy Dunfee did was to play Santa Claus for his friend's children. He also had a practice of going to the bakery every Sunday and leaving a small package of baked treats on his friends' doorsteps. He was passionate about the small things in life. He loved Godiva chocolates, buying it to give as gifts. He also loved the beach and taking day trips. "He was a generous, loving person and I can't remember a time when he was not there for me," said his sister Kerry of Troy, New York. "It was obvious from the number of the people at the funeral that he touched many lives in a very private and humble way." Buddy Dunfee maintained many of the friends he grew up with while attending the Babylon School District. One, Mary Beth Kennedy, who knew him for more than 40 years, described him as her "best friend." "He was part of our family," she said, adding that the two would often take trips to the beach and other places together. He was loyal and responsible and a good friend," she said. Other longtime friends, Lillian and Ken Dickey of Babylon, also called Buddy Dunfee a part of their family. "He lived his life the way he liked but was always thinking of others," said Lillian Dickey. "He was like a brother to us." Buddy Dunfee worked for more than 25 years as a mailer and distributor for the Babylon Beacon newspapers, a job that publisher Alfred James said Dunfee took seriously and one that he was strongly committed to. "He was loyal and responsible and I am sure that he is in heaven and was looking down on us to see how the newspaper went out the week he died," said James. "That's just the way he was." Buddy Dunfee was born in Southampton, Long Island and moved to Babylon with his family in 1950. He went through Babylon schools and attended the State University of New York at Geneseo, graduating with a degree in history and a minor in business. After traveling throughout Europe and the United States, he worked in a jewelry store in NewYork City and then took the job with the Beacon newspaper, developing the distribution route and handling the labeling and mailing of the newspaper. "Buddy was a wonderful employee and a good person," said Jane Wolfe who, with her husband Ed, owned the Beacon at the time Mr. Dunfee was hired. He was also a hairdresser and worked part-time at a salon for several years. More recently, he maintained some longtime customers, cutting their hair in their homes. "A thoughtful nephew who never forgot a birthday or an anniversary," said Buddy Dunfee's uncle Leland McLaughlin of Babylonl In addition to his father and his sister Kerry, Mr. Dunfee is survived by his mother Arlene V. Messick); his sister Daryl Dunfee Hammond and her husband David of Middle Granville, New York and his nieces Racheel Renee and Meredith Nadine Hammond. His aunts Annebelle Lupo of Colonia,New Jersey , Gaile McLaughlin and her husband Leland of Babylon, and many cousins and friends also survive him.
He reposed at the Lang Tobia DiPalma Funeral Home in Babylon on Friday, November 23, 2007, the Rev. Raymond Lange of the Babylon Methodist officiating. Burial was on Nov. 26, 2007 in Cloverleaf Cemetery, Woodbridge, New Jersey, next to his grandparents.
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