STATEMENT OF FORMER SENATOR BILL BARONI ON THE PASSING OF OUR MAYOR JACK RAFFERTY

Today, a big part of the heart and soul of Hamilton – my hometown – is gone.  Perhaps no person since our namesake Alexander Hamilton has done more to make our town what it is today than our Mayor Jack Rafferty.

I have known Mayor Rafferty my whole life.  I remember him in my living room at a meeting of our neighborhood association; he came to our little block parties, our school assemblies, our soccer league openings.  He was there when my Mom died – and he performed the wedding when my Dad married my stepmom.  Everyone in Hamilton knew him – because he knew us.  He made our town the perfect place to grow up.  Today, because we have lost Jack Rafferty, our town is a little less perfect.

It seems we are losing Hamilton’s greatest generation.  Jack Lacy, Jack Zoller, Franny McManimon, Maury Perilli, Paul Kramer, and now our Mayor Jack Rafferty.  All of us in politics follow in their footsteps and can only hope to do a fraction of the works they did.

Mayor Rafferty loved the theatre.  In the hit musical Hamilton – our towns namesake – the last line sang by all the cast is, “Who tells your story?”  Mayor Rafferty, we will tell your story.  A story that takes us to Sayen Gardens and Veterans Park; to a library we never had, parks we could only imagine; a police station that helps keep us safe; and the fact that we can use “Hamilton” on our mail.  There are thousands of stories we will tell – because you made our town.

Jack Rafferty, Rest in Peace.  Or in his beloved Irish, Seán Ó Rabhartaigh, Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam.