James Frederick Duffy

L t. Col. Duffy died on Sunday, April 24, 2022 at a local hospital after a long illness. Visitation is Thursday, May 5, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at White’s Funeral Home, Azle Graveside service: 9:00 AM Friday, May 6, 2022 at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas. James was born November 18, 1930 in Pawtucket, RI to Frederick Samuel Duffy and Mary Anne McCabe Duffy. Lt. Col started his career as an aircraft mechanic in San Francisco for Pan American in 1953. In 1955 he decided he wanted to fly and entered the USAF cadet pilot training. He graduated in 1956 as a 2nd Lt. and was assigned to Dow AFB in Bangor, Maine as a B-52 pilot during the cold war. Later he was transferred to Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, where he was instrumental in flying missions around the Bay of Pigs in Cuba and went TDY to Guam and Thailand to fly missions overseas. He is a Vietnam Veteran, flying many missions over Hanoi. He was promoted to Lt. Col. at McCoy AFB in Orlando Florida where he took the job as operations officer for the 367th Bomb Squadron. After this base closed he was assigned to Castle AFB California where he retired as Operations officer for said Squadron. James loved to fish with his wife, Ione and dance. He was very active and enjoyed working on cars, boats and RV's. He also enjoyed time RV’ing with his friends. He was quite the handyman and owned several rental properties in the 1980’s. He was preceded in death by his sister, Dorothy Anne Duffy of Pawtucket, RI.; his first wife, Rose Marie Duffy of Fall River, MA.; and his son, James Frederick Duffy II of Fort Worth, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Ione J. Duffy of Azle; his daughter, Mary Duffy Rice of Navarre, Florida; son, Steven Duffy of Van Buren, Arkansas; grandsons, Chris Frazier of Denton and Thomas William Hayden of Burleson; and four grandchildren.