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Funeral for Charlie McCafferty, 59, historian of the Stockyards and North Fort Worth who died Monday of a massive heart attack, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Greenwood Funeral Home. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 21, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 4
===================
FORT WORTH - Charlie McCafferty, the jovial, yarn-spinning, one-man tourist bureau for north Fort Worth, died Monday of a massive heart attack on the lawn outside the historic Stock Exchange Building, where he had helped create a museum of the Old West. He was 59.
"Charlie died where he wanted to die - down in the Stockyards. He couldn't have picked a better place," said Butch Hall, public information officer at the Fort Worth Fire Department, where Mr. McCafferty had worked as a fire engineer and public information officer for 31 years.
"The tragedy," said fellow Fort Worth history buff Marsha Anderson, "is that no one got Charlie's stories on tape. He did walking tours. Thousands and thousands of visitors have heard his stories."
In a booming voice with a heavy twang, Mr. McCafferty entertained close friends and a steady stream of tourists with outlaw tales passed down to him by his grandparents, pioneers who planted their roots in Fort Worth in the 1870s.
Funeral arrangements were pending yesterday with Greenwood Funeral Home, with burial to be in the historic Oakwood Cemetery.
That burial ground is the site of the annual Fourth of July picnic and storytelling session of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which Mr. McCafferty founded in 1975.
July Fourth of this year found Mr. McCafferty, a consummate actor, standing alongside his grandfather's grave and telling the story of the shifty stranger who stumbled into his granddad's campsite one moonless night and asked to share a meal and campfire. When day dawned, his grandfather realized his guest was the notorious outlaw Sam Bass.
"Charlie told the story so well, you thought it had happened to him," said Anderson, public information specialist with the Fort Worth Public Library, one of many municipal public relations people whom Mr. McCafferty took under his wing.
"He was definitely the most unforgettable character I've ever met," Anderson said.
Barrel-chested, with a waxed mustache and a shaved head topped with a Stetson, Mr. McCafferty looked the part of an old-fashioned sheriff and once appeared on ABC's Good Morning America as Cowtown's semi-official ambassador.
With his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, he breathed life into genealogy, recounting how one of his grandfathers drove the stagecoach between Fort Worth and Weatherford and how another was chief weighmaster of the Fort Worth Stockyards Co.
His father, C.B. McCafferty, was chief weighmaster and Tarrant County Democratic chairman. Charlie McCafferty followed suit, becoming a Democratic precinct chairman and a fixture in the Stockyards Historical District as well.
As vice president of the North Side Business Association in the early 1970s, he revived the now wildly successful Pioneer Days Celebration. That experience, and the approaching U.S. Bicentennial, led him and his wife, Sue, to create the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which researched and saved dozens of structures that hark back to the city's cowboy era.
In April 1989, Mr. McCafferty was disciplined by the fire chief after reporting to the police and the media what he called extensive abuses within the department. Mr. McCafferty reported the use of city tools to repair private vehicles, favoritism in granting overtime, personal use of Fire Department vehicles, X-rated movies shown in the fire stations, and out-of-state personal trips billed to the city.
The Police Department investigation found no criminal violations, and Mr. McCafferty was "forced into early retirement" from his $29,000-a-year job, his wife said.
Fire Department spokesman Butch Hall termed his colleague's departure "accelerated" retirement brought on by Mr. McCafferty's health problems.
For several years, Mr. McCafferty suffered minor problems with his lower heart chambers, his wife said. Recently he had been plagued with serious problems that included congestion of the heart arteries and an enlarged heart. He had been scheduled for a heart catheterization Thursday at Medical Plaza Hospital.
He and his wife were returning from an appointment with the cardiologist about 3:15 p.m. yesterday when Sue McCafferty, who was driving, pulled into the gravel driveway of the Stock Exchange Building, 131 E. Exchange Ave., and heard her husband say he had a sharp pain.
She helped him onto the building's grassy lawn. Ambulance workers were unable to revive him.
"He was near the place he loved," his wife said. "If Charlie could have planned this, he might have had a brass band."
Survivors: Wife of 26 years, Sue McCafferty of Fort Worth; three sons, Barry McCafferty, Mike McCafferty and Mark McCafferty, all of Fort Worth; and four grandchildren.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 20, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 3
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 21, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 4
===================
FORT WORTH - Charlie McCafferty, the jovial, yarn-spinning, one-man tourist bureau for north Fort Worth, died Monday of a massive heart attack on the lawn outside the historic Stock Exchange Building, where he had helped create a museum of the Old West. He was 59.
"Charlie died where he wanted to die - down in the Stockyards. He couldn't have picked a better place," said Butch Hall, public information officer at the Fort Worth Fire Department, where Mr. McCafferty had worked as a fire engineer and public information officer for 31 years.
"The tragedy," said fellow Fort Worth history buff Marsha Anderson, "is that no one got Charlie's stories on tape. He did walking tours. Thousands and thousands of visitors have heard his stories."
In a booming voice with a heavy twang, Mr. McCafferty entertained close friends and a steady stream of tourists with outlaw tales passed down to him by his grandparents, pioneers who planted their roots in Fort Worth in the 1870s.
Funeral arrangements were pending yesterday with Greenwood Funeral Home, with burial to be in the historic Oakwood Cemetery.
That burial ground is the site of the annual Fourth of July picnic and storytelling session of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which Mr. McCafferty founded in 1975.
July Fourth of this year found Mr. McCafferty, a consummate actor, standing alongside his grandfather's grave and telling the story of the shifty stranger who stumbled into his granddad's campsite one moonless night and asked to share a meal and campfire. When day dawned, his grandfather realized his guest was the notorious outlaw Sam Bass.
"Charlie told the story so well, you thought it had happened to him," said Anderson, public information specialist with the Fort Worth Public Library, one of many municipal public relations people whom Mr. McCafferty took under his wing.
"He was definitely the most unforgettable character I've ever met," Anderson said.
Barrel-chested, with a waxed mustache and a shaved head topped with a Stetson, Mr. McCafferty looked the part of an old-fashioned sheriff and once appeared on ABC's Good Morning America as Cowtown's semi-official ambassador.
With his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, he breathed life into genealogy, recounting how one of his grandfathers drove the stagecoach between Fort Worth and Weatherford and how another was chief weighmaster of the Fort Worth Stockyards Co.
His father, C.B. McCafferty, was chief weighmaster and Tarrant County Democratic chairman. Charlie McCafferty followed suit, becoming a Democratic precinct chairman and a fixture in the Stockyards Historical District as well.
As vice president of the North Side Business Association in the early 1970s, he revived the now wildly successful Pioneer Days Celebration. That experience, and the approaching U.S. Bicentennial, led him and his wife, Sue, to create the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which researched and saved dozens of structures that hark back to the city's cowboy era.
In April 1989, Mr. McCafferty was disciplined by the fire chief after reporting to the police and the media what he called extensive abuses within the department. Mr. McCafferty reported the use of city tools to repair private vehicles, favoritism in granting overtime, personal use of Fire Department vehicles, X-rated movies shown in the fire stations, and out-of-state personal trips billed to the city.
The Police Department investigation found no criminal violations, and Mr. McCafferty was "forced into early retirement" from his $29,000-a-year job, his wife said.
Fire Department spokesman Butch Hall termed his colleague's departure "accelerated" retirement brought on by Mr. McCafferty's health problems.
For several years, Mr. McCafferty suffered minor problems with his lower heart chambers, his wife said. Recently he had been plagued with serious problems that included congestion of the heart arteries and an enlarged heart. He had been scheduled for a heart catheterization Thursday at Medical Plaza Hospital.
He and his wife were returning from an appointment with the cardiologist about 3:15 p.m. yesterday when Sue McCafferty, who was driving, pulled into the gravel driveway of the Stock Exchange Building, 131 E. Exchange Ave., and heard her husband say he had a sharp pain.
She helped him onto the building's grassy lawn. Ambulance workers were unable to revive him.
"He was near the place he loved," his wife said. "If Charlie could have planned this, he might have had a brass band."
Survivors: Wife of 26 years, Sue McCafferty of Fort Worth; three sons, Barry McCafferty, Mike McCafferty and Mark McCafferty, all of Fort Worth; and four grandchildren.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 20, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 3
Funeral for Charlie McCafferty, 59, historian of the Stockyards and North Fort Worth who died Monday of a massive heart attack, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Greenwood Funeral Home. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 21, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 4
===================
FORT WORTH - Charlie McCafferty, the jovial, yarn-spinning, one-man tourist bureau for north Fort Worth, died Monday of a massive heart attack on the lawn outside the historic Stock Exchange Building, where he had helped create a museum of the Old West. He was 59.
"Charlie died where he wanted to die - down in the Stockyards. He couldn't have picked a better place," said Butch Hall, public information officer at the Fort Worth Fire Department, where Mr. McCafferty had worked as a fire engineer and public information officer for 31 years.
"The tragedy," said fellow Fort Worth history buff Marsha Anderson, "is that no one got Charlie's stories on tape. He did walking tours. Thousands and thousands of visitors have heard his stories."
In a booming voice with a heavy twang, Mr. McCafferty entertained close friends and a steady stream of tourists with outlaw tales passed down to him by his grandparents, pioneers who planted their roots in Fort Worth in the 1870s.
Funeral arrangements were pending yesterday with Greenwood Funeral Home, with burial to be in the historic Oakwood Cemetery.
That burial ground is the site of the annual Fourth of July picnic and storytelling session of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which Mr. McCafferty founded in 1975.
July Fourth of this year found Mr. McCafferty, a consummate actor, standing alongside his grandfather's grave and telling the story of the shifty stranger who stumbled into his granddad's campsite one moonless night and asked to share a meal and campfire. When day dawned, his grandfather realized his guest was the notorious outlaw Sam Bass.
"Charlie told the story so well, you thought it had happened to him," said Anderson, public information specialist with the Fort Worth Public Library, one of many municipal public relations people whom Mr. McCafferty took under his wing.
"He was definitely the most unforgettable character I've ever met," Anderson said.
Barrel-chested, with a waxed mustache and a shaved head topped with a Stetson, Mr. McCafferty looked the part of an old-fashioned sheriff and once appeared on ABC's Good Morning America as Cowtown's semi-official ambassador.
With his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, he breathed life into genealogy, recounting how one of his grandfathers drove the stagecoach between Fort Worth and Weatherford and how another was chief weighmaster of the Fort Worth Stockyards Co.
His father, C.B. McCafferty, was chief weighmaster and Tarrant County Democratic chairman. Charlie McCafferty followed suit, becoming a Democratic precinct chairman and a fixture in the Stockyards Historical District as well.
As vice president of the North Side Business Association in the early 1970s, he revived the now wildly successful Pioneer Days Celebration. That experience, and the approaching U.S. Bicentennial, led him and his wife, Sue, to create the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which researched and saved dozens of structures that hark back to the city's cowboy era.
In April 1989, Mr. McCafferty was disciplined by the fire chief after reporting to the police and the media what he called extensive abuses within the department. Mr. McCafferty reported the use of city tools to repair private vehicles, favoritism in granting overtime, personal use of Fire Department vehicles, X-rated movies shown in the fire stations, and out-of-state personal trips billed to the city.
The Police Department investigation found no criminal violations, and Mr. McCafferty was "forced into early retirement" from his $29,000-a-year job, his wife said.
Fire Department spokesman Butch Hall termed his colleague's departure "accelerated" retirement brought on by Mr. McCafferty's health problems.
For several years, Mr. McCafferty suffered minor problems with his lower heart chambers, his wife said. Recently he had been plagued with serious problems that included congestion of the heart arteries and an enlarged heart. He had been scheduled for a heart catheterization Thursday at Medical Plaza Hospital.
He and his wife were returning from an appointment with the cardiologist about 3:15 p.m. yesterday when Sue McCafferty, who was driving, pulled into the gravel driveway of the Stock Exchange Building, 131 E. Exchange Ave., and heard her husband say he had a sharp pain.
She helped him onto the building's grassy lawn. Ambulance workers were unable to revive him.
"He was near the place he loved," his wife said. "If Charlie could have planned this, he might have had a brass band."
Survivors: Wife of 26 years, Sue McCafferty of Fort Worth; three sons, Barry McCafferty, Mike McCafferty and Mark McCafferty, all of Fort Worth; and four grandchildren.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 20, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 3
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 21, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 4
===================
FORT WORTH - Charlie McCafferty, the jovial, yarn-spinning, one-man tourist bureau for north Fort Worth, died Monday of a massive heart attack on the lawn outside the historic Stock Exchange Building, where he had helped create a museum of the Old West. He was 59.
"Charlie died where he wanted to die - down in the Stockyards. He couldn't have picked a better place," said Butch Hall, public information officer at the Fort Worth Fire Department, where Mr. McCafferty had worked as a fire engineer and public information officer for 31 years.
"The tragedy," said fellow Fort Worth history buff Marsha Anderson, "is that no one got Charlie's stories on tape. He did walking tours. Thousands and thousands of visitors have heard his stories."
In a booming voice with a heavy twang, Mr. McCafferty entertained close friends and a steady stream of tourists with outlaw tales passed down to him by his grandparents, pioneers who planted their roots in Fort Worth in the 1870s.
Funeral arrangements were pending yesterday with Greenwood Funeral Home, with burial to be in the historic Oakwood Cemetery.
That burial ground is the site of the annual Fourth of July picnic and storytelling session of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which Mr. McCafferty founded in 1975.
July Fourth of this year found Mr. McCafferty, a consummate actor, standing alongside his grandfather's grave and telling the story of the shifty stranger who stumbled into his granddad's campsite one moonless night and asked to share a meal and campfire. When day dawned, his grandfather realized his guest was the notorious outlaw Sam Bass.
"Charlie told the story so well, you thought it had happened to him," said Anderson, public information specialist with the Fort Worth Public Library, one of many municipal public relations people whom Mr. McCafferty took under his wing.
"He was definitely the most unforgettable character I've ever met," Anderson said.
Barrel-chested, with a waxed mustache and a shaved head topped with a Stetson, Mr. McCafferty looked the part of an old-fashioned sheriff and once appeared on ABC's Good Morning America as Cowtown's semi-official ambassador.
With his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, he breathed life into genealogy, recounting how one of his grandfathers drove the stagecoach between Fort Worth and Weatherford and how another was chief weighmaster of the Fort Worth Stockyards Co.
His father, C.B. McCafferty, was chief weighmaster and Tarrant County Democratic chairman. Charlie McCafferty followed suit, becoming a Democratic precinct chairman and a fixture in the Stockyards Historical District as well.
As vice president of the North Side Business Association in the early 1970s, he revived the now wildly successful Pioneer Days Celebration. That experience, and the approaching U.S. Bicentennial, led him and his wife, Sue, to create the North Fort Worth Historical Society, which researched and saved dozens of structures that hark back to the city's cowboy era.
In April 1989, Mr. McCafferty was disciplined by the fire chief after reporting to the police and the media what he called extensive abuses within the department. Mr. McCafferty reported the use of city tools to repair private vehicles, favoritism in granting overtime, personal use of Fire Department vehicles, X-rated movies shown in the fire stations, and out-of-state personal trips billed to the city.
The Police Department investigation found no criminal violations, and Mr. McCafferty was "forced into early retirement" from his $29,000-a-year job, his wife said.
Fire Department spokesman Butch Hall termed his colleague's departure "accelerated" retirement brought on by Mr. McCafferty's health problems.
For several years, Mr. McCafferty suffered minor problems with his lower heart chambers, his wife said. Recently he had been plagued with serious problems that included congestion of the heart arteries and an enlarged heart. He had been scheduled for a heart catheterization Thursday at Medical Plaza Hospital.
He and his wife were returning from an appointment with the cardiologist about 3:15 p.m. yesterday when Sue McCafferty, who was driving, pulled into the gravel driveway of the Stock Exchange Building, 131 E. Exchange Ave., and heard her husband say he had a sharp pain.
She helped him onto the building's grassy lawn. Ambulance workers were unable to revive him.
"He was near the place he loved," his wife said. "If Charlie could have planned this, he might have had a brass band."
Survivors: Wife of 26 years, Sue McCafferty of Fort Worth; three sons, Barry McCafferty, Mike McCafferty and Mark McCafferty, all of Fort Worth; and four grandchildren.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - August 20, 1991
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 3
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