Emery Cambridge Daly

MANCHESTER, CONN. — Emery Cambridge Daly, 84, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018 at Manchester Memorial Hospital in Manchester, Conn. surrounded by members of his family.

Emery was born on Jan. 30, 1933 in Lynnfield Center, Mass., the son of Raymond Christy and Dorothea Shay Daly, and had a wonderfully interesting and varied life.

Emery grew up in Hudson, N.H., with his mother and stepfather Allen Frederick Crabtree Jr., and graduated from Nashua High School in 1950 as the last class from Hudson before the town’s students began going to their new Alvirne High School.

He had a lifelong curiosity about how things worked, and devoted intense attention to detail on every task that he undertook. Those traits inspired his academic and work careers. After graduating in 1953 from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine with a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science, Emery served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War on the USS Boxer as a marine engineer. Following his honorable discharge from the Navy, he worked as a marine engineer for several years on United Fruit merchant ships in the Caribbean. He returned to school at the University of New Hampshire and received his Mechanical Engineering degree in 1961. That led to a long and successful 30-year career as an experimental engineer working on jet engine development with Pratt and Whitney in East Harford, Conn. In all his life’s dealings, he was truly “an officer and a gentleman!”

Retirement didn’t slow Emery down, it just changed his focus. Following in the footsteps of his stepfather, he was Master of Charter Oak Lodge #58 in Effingham, N.H., of the Free and Accepted Order of Masons. Emery served on the East Hartford Board of Education, following the example set by his mother, who was chairwoman of the Hudson (N.H.) School Board. Emery was active in Contract Bridge tournaments in the region and gained the honored status of Life Master.

He had a lifelong interest in genealogy, and continued and expanded the comprehensive family history that his mother had started. He created the Dalyclan.org website with detailed, well-documented listings of hundreds of Daly, Crabtree and other family ancestors reaching back hundreds of years. It is a valuable, well-used research tool by researchers around the world. He and his brother, Allen Crabtree III, used the Dalyclan.org website as the basis for books they have collaborated on including Uncle Charlie’s Tape Worm (published 2016) and Peggy Marsh, Chorus Girl and Gold Digger (in progress). Emery has also published several e-books with his cousin in the Philippines, and A Widow’s Third.

Emery married the first time to Nancy Taylor in Effingham, N.H. in 1961 and had two sons, Stephen and Paul Daly. He then married Roberta Maselek in Tolland, Conn. in 2001 and became an instant father of four children, Kristen, Brendon, Justin and Tyler. He has been a devoted father to all his children, and they remember fondly how he always had time to listen and help them, no matter what problem they brought to him.

Emery is greatly missed by Roberta, his wife of 17 years, his daughter and five sons, two brothers, and five grandchildren. His son Paul Daly, wife Shannon, and grandchildren McKenna and Jameson live in Colorado. Son Stephen Daly lives in Massachusetts. Stepdaughter Kristen lives in Massachusetts. Stepson Brendon Maselek and his wife Corey, stepson Justin Maselek and grandchildren Arianna, Jackson, and Greyson, and stepson Tyler Maselek all live in Connecticut. Emery leaves two brothers, Allen Frederick Crabtree III in Sebago, and Howard Christy Daly in New York.

He is predeceased by his father, Raymond Christy Daly and his mother, Dorothea Shay Daly Crabtree, as well as his stepfather Allen Frederick Crabtree Jr. Emery leaves behind two devoted pets, his dog Emmie and his cat Marmalade — they miss him greatly and don’t understand why he hasn’t come home.

Visiting hours were held at Ladd-Turkington & Carmon Funeral Home, 551 Talcottvile Road (Route 83) in Vernon, Conn. on Jan. 17, 2018 from 5 to 8 p.m. The family greeted friends and relatives then. A private burial will be held on Jan. 18, 2018 at the Forest Hill Avenue Cemetery in Lynnfield Center, Mass.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations may be made to the National Stroke Association, in remembrance of Emery Daly, at 9707 East Easter Lane, Suite B, Centerville, CO 80112.

Condolences may be left on Ladd-Turkington & Carmon Funeral Home online guest book at www.carmonfuneralhome.com