Monday, November 5, 2012

Teamsters mourn Local 863 member who perished in storm

Services are held today for Brother Bobbie McDuffie, a family man, a church deacon and a good loyal member of Teamsters Local 863 in Mountainside, N.J.

He worked for Forum Facilities, a perishable grocery warehouse that supplies Shop-Rite. On Oct. 30, he was working an extra night shift. When flood waters began to rise nearby, McDuffie went to move his car. He never returned.

The Newark Star-Ledger reported,
McDuffie, 47, himself the father of three — Ashley, Eboni and Shavonne — who lived in Newark and served as a deacon at the First Timothy Baptist Church in Newark. Bobby McDuffie, who also loved gospel music and sang in the choir. 
On Monday night ... McDuffie was working an extra shift at the Wakefern warehouse on Euclid Avenue in Newark. His wife Sheronica says Bobbie always volunteered for extra work. 
"He would do anything he could to put food on the table for his family,’’ says Sheronica, 45. 
Police say they warned officials at Wakefern, a Newark food distrubtion company, to evacuate. 
The warehouse remained open and Bobby went to work. Sheronica made him extra turkey and provolone sandwiches because she thought he might get stuck there for the night. 
Shortly after 10, workers could see the Passaic River was rising and Joseph Street, near the warehouse, was flooding. Bobby and others took a break to get to their cars and move them.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. His obituary can be read here. Friends may express their condolences and add a tribute to his memory here.