Dr. John J. McLaughlin, formerly of Flower Hill, Manhasset passed away peacefully on Dec. 18 at Doylestown Hospital in Pennsylvania. Jack and his family moved to Manhasset in 1959 where they were very involved in community affairs, especially the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church family, where they devotedly took the same seats, in the same pew at the Saturday 5 p.m. Mass for almost 53 years.
Jack was a member of what Tom Brokaw named “The Greatest Generation.” In 1943 Jack enlisted in the U.S. Army and went on to serve as a medic in Normandy, France at the time of the D-day Invasion. In fact his medical unit was the last to be decommissioned at the conclusion of that massive engagement. While overseas, Jack nurtured his long distance love affair with Mary Culhane, a medical student at N.Y.U. He and Mary saved every one of their letters written over that two year period and they will be handed down through the family’s generations to be read with loving memories of “Ammy and Beep.”
One of Jack’s great joys was playing golf with his buddies at North Hempstead Country Club. Although he had reached the golden age of 90, he still could not understand why his game wasn’t improving despite his weekly attempts to better his score. We believe that when he gave up his membership he was the oldest active golfer at the club.
A milestone in Jack’s life occurred when he was 75 years old and became a pioneer patient in the world of cochlear implantation. Dealing with increasing hearing loss since childhood, he entered the N.Y.U. Department of Otolaryngology Cochlear Implant Program and was successfully treated, leading to the appreciation of an aspect of life new to him—the hearing world. So thankful for his newly given gift, he published two articles on the process of becoming an implant recipient and then a year later on what he had experienced along the way. Both articles served as teaching tools for those working with potential cochlear implant patients.
Jack was dearly loved by his family and the many orthodontic patients he treated over the years throughout the greater Manhasset area.
Jack is predeceased by his loving Mary, wife of 65 years and his sister Margaret(Peg) Lemieux of St. Regis Falls, NY. He is survived by his daughter, Mary Frances (Fran) Finn (John), his grandchildren, Colleen-Mara Ridenhour (Brian), Noreen Cadigan (Bill), John J. Finn III (Sarah)and four great-grandchildren, William Cadigan, Kristen Cadigan, Riley Finn and Keegan Finn.
In lieu of flowers, consider making a donation of any size to The Cochlear Implant Awareness Foundation. This nonprofit foundation provides an opportunity for needy hearing impaired persons of all ages to break out of their silent world and join in the gift of hearing which we often take too much for granted.
