Thomas Michael Heffernan

Our dad, Tom Heffernan of Rockland, Massachusetts passed away on Saturday, September 19th at South Shore Hospital after a long illness. He was born February 9, 1935 in Boston, to Thomas Heffernan and Catherine Burke and grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

His entire life he called Weymouth and Rockland his homes with a brief time in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

Dad was married on May 16, 1953 to his beloved and best friend, Natalie Elizabeth Tuttle, at the Weymouth Sacred Heart parish rectory. They were married for 64 years before mom’s passing in July, 2017. He was devoted to Natalie and their children, Patrick, Thomas, Joseph and Natalie.

Dad started out his working life at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy as a riveter. His break came when Gary and John Blake opened an industrial gas distributor for Linde Gases, and Dad was their first hire. His long-time service with the company as a salesperson led to strong relationships with his customers, many whom he could call friends.

Besides his family, dad’s passions included the Boston sports teams, particularly the Patriots and Celtics, and frequenting local dining establishments. He was a season ticket holder for the Boston Patriots in their first season in 1960, playing at Nickerson Field, when local greats like Babe Parilli, Gino Cappelletti and Jim Hunt were the talk of the town. He took the family to watch the Celtics, sitting in the nosebleed section. And we listened at home together to Johnny Most “high above courtside where the Boston Celtics were about to do basketball battle.” Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, Satch Sanders and “Red” were our heroes.

Dad loved his trips to Butterfields (now called Stevie G’s) in Rockland. He never deviated from his order of eggs over easy, home fires, white toast and sausage links and the servers always asked: “So Tom… the usual?" After mom’s passing, he discovered mini-meals at Alfredo’s in Norwell and he became a devoted fan of their Buffalo Chicken Macaroni.

Dad’s favorite charity was St. Jude’s Hospital for Children, founded by Danny Thomas. He would tell the story of how Mr. Thomas was a struggling entertainer just after the Great Depression. He prayed to St Jude, patron saint of impossible causes and hopeless situations during the time of lack of work and extreme financial hardship for his family. His prayer was “show me the way, I will make you proud and build you a shrine”. And so St Jude’s Children Hospital was opened in 1961. The hospital provides free care to all children with a cancer diagnosis as well as free room and board to the families who travel to be with their children during treatment. Dad loved this charity as they checked off all the boxes including helping those in need, helping the innocents, using the money wisely and staying true to your word.

Dad was a member of the Holy Family Parish in Rockland for over 60 years.

Tom is survived by his son Patrick Heffernan and his wife Renee Sandelowsky of Bayfield, Ontario, Thomas Heffernan MD and his wife Anne Marie of Sandwich, MA, Natalie Herrington and husband Ron Herrington of Big Pine Key, Florida and Joseph Heffernan of Merrimack, NH. He was the brother of Marian Heffernan, Catherine DeLappe and James Heffernan. Tom is the grandfather of Molly Heffernan, Olivia Heffernan, Rose Heffernan, Katherine Heffernan, James Heffernan, Patrick Heffernan, Thomas Fricke, Timothy Fricke, Abigail Fricke and Taylor Heffernan.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Holy Family Church, 403 Union St., Rockland, MA, on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 9:00am followed by burial in the Holy Family Cemetery, 92 Centre Ave, Rockland, MA