Jerome "Jerry" Rafferty

Jerome P. “Jerry” Rafferty of Highlands Ranch, CO, died Tuesday February 15, 2022 after a long battle with cancer. He was 79.

Born on August 22, 1942 in Johnson City, New York, Jerry graduated from Johnson City High School and then attended Villanova University, where he graduated with an engineering degree in 1964. Returning home to Johnson City, he worked at International Business Machines (IBM) before enlisting in Officers Candidate School in the US Army in 1966.

It was the Army that brought him to the West, where he discovered three of the loves of his life: the Rocky Mountains; his wife Billie, whom he met while based at the Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, Utah; and his daughter, Allison, who was born to the couple in 1971.

After being honorably discharged from the military, Jerry returned to IBM and went on to build a highly successful career in marketing and sales at IBM for over 30 years, riding the growth of the early phases of the high-tech era by selling to corporate customers the large mainframe computers for which IBM was famous.

When the mainframe computer industry was transformed by the arrival of personal computers, Jerry transferred his engineering and marketing skills to becoming a successful independent IT salesperson, selling computer and printing solutions to companies large and small.

As a young man just out of college, Jerry loved fast automobiles starting with a 1960 Ford Thunderbird (listed at #3 of the ten best Thunderbirds of all time!) followed up with a 1965 Pontiac GTO, one of the first models of “muscle cars” of any make).

Jerry loved Colorado and all the sports one could enjoy here including skiing, hiking, and bicycling. He was an intense Denver Broncos fans. He owned more than a few John Elway jerseys and he could always be found in front of his television cheering (or cursing) the hometown team on gameday.

Deeply religious and eager to explore his faith, Jerry participated in numerous Bible Study classes at St. Thomas Moore parish in Centennial.  He also served as a church usher for more than 20 years. During those years He served as a Eucharistic Minister of Holy Communion and a Special Minister taking the Eucharist to patients at the Swedish Medical Center.

While he and Billie later divorced, they remained good friends, and in recent years they saw each other nearly every day for dinners that Jerry enjoyed cooking in the kitchen or on the barbecue.

Jerry is lovingly remembered and survived by his daughter, Allison Blue of Parker, CO; his three grandchildren: Lauren, Jack, and Gus; his brother, Michael of Chestnut Hill, MA; two sisters: Kathleen Dunn of Falmouth MA and Patricia Inglis of Weymouth, MA; his former wife, Billie, of Lone Tree, CO; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Jerry’s parents, Cyril and Mary Marguerite, predeceased him.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 22 at St. Thomas Moore Church, 8035 South Quebec Street, Centennial. A rosary for Jerry will be said at the Church beginning at 10:15 a.m.  All are invited.

Burial with full military honors is private. There are no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to make a gift to Catholic Charities of Denver at https://ccdenver.org/ways-to-give/