Hometown Hero: Theresa Gaffney of East Rockaway
Theresa Gaffney was recently named a Hometown Hero by East Rockaway's school board. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Theresa Gaffney has been described by her peers as a “master of human kindness.”
Gaffney, who lives in East Rockaway and has been the village clerk since September 2023, has spent decades contributing to her community through efforts that range from being an emergency medical technician with the East Rockaway Fire Department to securing steel beams from the World Trade Center for a memorial park outside of East Rockaway Village Hall.
Gaffney, 44, is a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the time, she worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower as a broker assistant with the brokerage company Euro Brokers. The firm lost 61 employees from her office in the attacks, she said.
“In the beginning there was a lot of survivor guilt, because I was young and I was single and I didn’t have any kids,” Gaffney, 44, said. Of securing the WTC beams for the memorial park in 2011, she said: “It was pretty special. When I had my kids I stopped going to the city, so it was nice to have a piece of that in our hometown.”
Gaffney also serves as secretary of the East Rockaway Fire Department’s Hose Co. #1 and director of the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center Foundation, which supports pediatric trauma efforts throughout Long Island, Manhattan and the lower Hudson Valley.
“I think they’re all equally special to me in different ways,” Gaffney said of her various involvements. “I like making people’s lives easier, and hopefully they pay it forward.”
She is also a member of the East Rockaway Kiwanis Club — which in 2023 named her the East Rockaway Kiwanian of the Year — as well as the Ladies Auxiliary for both the Knights of Columbus and American Legion Post 958 in East Rockaway.
“Theresa is known as a person of integrity and diligence. All of her successful achievements are a testament to the devotion she has to her commitments,” said Michaelene Abbott-Cooper, the distinguished past president of the East Rockaway Kiwanis Club. “The mixture of hard work with passion as a service leader certainly has inspired people to do better every day.”
Gaffney was an East Rockaway village trustee from 2013 to 2015 and served as deputy mayor. In that role, she facilitated visits to village hall for students at East Rockaway High School.
In January, the East Rockaway school district’s Board of Education recognized her with a 2024 Hometown Hero Award.
“Theresa is a jack of all trades and a master of human kindness,” said the board’s president, Dominick Vulpis. “She has empathy for all around her, acting as a servant leader in the community.”
Nominate a Long Islander who goes above and beyond or serves as an inspiration to their community. Send details and photograph to Michael Ebert, michael.ebert@newsday.com (photos should be high-resolution). Photos may be used in other publications affiliated with Newsday.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
