Nancy M. McCafferty

DORSET- Nancy M. (Keener) McCafferty, 82, died peacefully on Sunday, February 28, in her home following a 20-year battle with cancer.
She was born on December 27, 1938, in Hershey PA, the eldest daughter of Henry and Elsie Keener. She attended a one-room country school until her parents relocated to Palmyra, PA, in 1948. She met her future husband Bob McCafferty in the fourth grade and although they dated other people, they became a steady couple in high school. She was a “Commercial” student, studying secretarial and business until graduation. In her senior year she was chosen the school’s Harvest Moon Ball Queen, the most prestigious social honor her class could provide. Upon graduation, she became a secretary to John Miller, an owner and officer of the Quaker Alloy Casting Co. in Myerstown, PA.
Bob McCafferty, upon his graduation from junior college, relocated to West Dover to begin construction of a small ski lodge near the growing Mount Snow Ski Area. In the summer of 1958, he married his longtime sweetheart, Nancy. Upon completing the lodge named the Doverhof, Mrs. McCafferty became the main innkeeper responsible for the operation of the inn and all food preparation. Nancy and Bob operated the inn for six years during which time a son, Jonathan, was born in 1961, before selling the inn and building a new home near the base of a newly developing ski area on Haystack Mountain in Wilmington.
Mrs. McCafferty subsequently began a lifelong career in fashion and retailing, joining the staff of The Cupola ski shop where she became the apparel buyer, winning several awards for her knowledge of ski fashion and fabrication.
In 1974 Bob, Nancy, and ski racer son Jon McCafferty relocated to Princeton, NJ, to begin a new adventure.
Mrs. McCafferty was employed by the Princeton-based market research firm of Mapes & Ross for several years, rising to the level of office manager. She also took several retail, accounting, and marketing courses at Rutgers University during this time and subsequently was accepted into the RH Macy Executive Training Program as a segue back to the world of fashion. Completing her Macy’s training, she was assigned to the headquarters of Macy’s Bamberger Division in Newark, NJ. She advanced steadily within the Bamberger organization, becoming an assistant buyer in sporting apparel and winning the prestigious “Assistant Buyer of the Year” award for introducing Adidas sporting apparel to the Bamberger chain of stores.
In 1979 the McCaffertys relocated to a new home in Upper Montclair, NJ. In the early ‘80s she left Macy’s and, after a brief retirement, decided to return to retailing and opened her own women’s clothing store, The Nantucket Lady, on Valley Road in the heart of Upper Montclair Village. The decor was modeled after a Nantucket cottage and featured ladies sporting apparel, upscale casual fashions, and accessories. The Nantucket Lady was an instant success and she and an exceptional sales staff managed the store successfully until 1996, at which point she retired to pursue her passion for competitive tennis and hiking the mountains of New England, Switzerland, and Italy. Prior to retirement she and her husband purchased a second home in Dorset. They became members of the Dorset Field Club in 1990 where she had played competitive tennis years before. In 2001 they moved to their Vermont home and began the planning process for a new home in Dorset, which they built in 2002. She subsequently joined the Manchester Garden Club, the Green Mountain Girls, served as a trustee of the Dorset UCC Church, and on the tennis committee of the Dorset Field Club. Mrs. McCafferty is survived by her husband of 62 years, Bob McCafferty, her son Jonathan, his partner Lisa Feiwel, grandson Willem, and Willem’s mother Jacki Gross, all of Manhattan; her sister Janet Keener, of Mount Joy, PA; and various nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center for the benefit of the staff of the cancer center, c/o Brewster-Shea Funeral Home, PO Box 885, Manchester Center, VT 05255. To send the family personal condolences visit www.sheafuneralhomes.com.