William “Bill” Thomas Flaherty, 69 of Bristol, passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 19, after a long and courageous battle with health issues. He was born on July 8, 1954, in Waterbury, Conn., the son of late Thomas Francis and Irene (Hodkoski) Flaherty.
After graduating from St. Paul Catholic High School in 1972, Bill attended the University of Wyoming for a short time. He then followed his passion for motorcycling by earning a certificate in Motorcycle Repair in Daytona, Florida. He LOVED motocross bike races and raced in several events himself. He attended races all over New England for as long as he was physically able to do so.
After getting his certificate in Florida, Bill moved on to his other lifetime passion: carpentry. He worked for many large construction companies and loved seeing houses and buildings take shape. He was also there to help family and friends with their home projects or to make a special handmade gift.
Bill was an avid outdoorsman. Besides working on his motocross bike and trail riding, he enjoyed camping with his friends in his green van that he customized, as well as fishing, skiing, and hunting. Even after his accident, he continued to camp and go to the Motocross races as often as he could. He always made time for family picnics, birthday parties, and loved to shower Sarah and Jake (his niece and nephew) with lots of attention. The extended family of aunts and uncles and cousins were always very important to Bill. His great joy in the last few years was driving out to Ohio to surprise his special Aunt Nonnie (Zenobia) for her 90th birthday.
During these past several years, while he was dealing with his medical issues, he received care at the Summit at Plantsville. The staff at the Summit became a second family for Bill. He loved joking with the medical assistants, nurses, wound care specialists, and PAs that worked with him. Barbara Blau, recreation therapy director, made a special effort to find out what Bill liked to do and came up with a very special project for him several years ago. Bill started building elaborate doll houses and barns and was able to gift these special houses to some very special children in the Plantsville community.
Bill is survived by his brother Kevin Flaherty of Bristol, sisters Claudia Zerella and her husband Joseph of Southington and Florida, Laurie Zimmerman and her husband John of Prospect; niece Sarah Eddy and her husband Devon of Florida, nephew Jacob Zimmerman, his special aunt Zenobia Williams of Florida and many, many close cousins.
Calling hours will be held at O’Brien Funeral Home, 24 Lincoln Ave, Bristol on Friday, June 7, starting at 9:30 a.m. until a funeral home service that will begin at 11 a.m. A burial with follow at St. Joseph Cemetery, 522 Terryville Ave., Bristol.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, https://www.stjude.org or the CT Humane Society, https://cthumane.org/.
To leave an online message of condolences, please visit Bill’s tribute page at www.Obrien-FuneralHome.com.
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