BENJAMIN EUSTIS JEFFRIES

1930 - 2019

JEFFRIES, Benjamin Eustis Sailor, Sportsman and Gentle Man Born: May 16, 1930, Boston, MA Died: October 20, 2019, Blue Hill, ME Age 89, of Stonington, ME, the fourth of five children born to John Amory and Miriam Faulkner Jeffries. Raised in Milton, MA, he graduated from Milton Academy in 1948, Post Graduate Hebron Academy 1949, then graduated from Harvard where he received his A.B. in Economics in 1953. Ben was a veteran of the U.S. Army, served in the Berlin Occupation Force in Germany and was honorably discharged. He was a manufacturing executive for a commercial stainless-steel dishwashing company called Adamation in Newton, MA and rose to the position of President before retiring. Next, he took on the challenge of becoming owner and operator for ten years of a popular restaurant called Modern Times Cafe in Cambridge, MA (now Oleanna). One food reviewer wrote, "Old hippies don't die, they go to Modern Times Café." One longtime customer even wrote a book called Women In the Army while seated in a booth drinking coffee. He retired to the Maine coast to pursue his lifelong passion of cruising solo or with family on his boats Jabberwock, Bonne Chance, and Lulu. He was a member of the Fox Club and past member of Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, MA, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY and Cape Dory Sailboat Owners Association. He was an avid bird hunter with his dog "Cassiopeia." He enjoyed splitting wood and shooting clays at the Blue Hill Rifle and Pistol club with his grandfather's big double-barrel shotgun and was a lifetime member of the NRA. He liked classical music, opera, skiing, and accompanying his artist wife on painting trips across the South West. Ben was a constant reader. He was a Stonington Sanitary District trustee for ten years and a Proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum. He was a gentleman and a gentle man .... a real New Englander who was quiet, but when he spoke he meant what he said. He was devoted to his immediate and extended family, fondly recalling past family get-togethers in Keene and Stoddard, NH. He is survived by his beloved wife Lorraine of Stonington, ME, brother Dr. Peter Jeffries of Windsor, VT, his sons Stephen of Boston and David of San Francisco, and his grandchildren Julia and Philip. He was predeceased by his first wife Philippa Roosevelt, brothers David and John, Jr. and a sister, Miriam Whitney. A Memorial will be held next spring.

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