James Daniel Duffy

James “Jim” Daniel Duffy, Lt Col USAF, Retired, was called to heaven on 28 January 2026 at the age of 80, surrounded with love by his wife, daughter and sister. Jim was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 18 July 1945 to Army Lt. Daniel Duffy and his wife Neyda Cuebas Duffy.

Being raised an army brat, he moved to and attended school in many places, including Germany and Puerto Rico, Texas, and California. He was able to fit in and make friends easily because of his athletic prowess. When he was in Puerto Rico he and his Uncle Hector (Ety) would go around the neighborhood looking for kids to play baseball with them. Jim would pitch and Ety would catch. Jim was a few months older than Ety but would call him Uncle to tease him. This continued their entire life. When he would switch schools, being an athlete would help create an immediate bond with others on whichever sports team was in season. As a smaller guy, he got a few injuries like a broken nose and sprained ankles but he loved sports and being part of a team, especially when the bigger guys would have his back when he needed it. He played most sports including football, basketball, baseball and he ran track because he was fast. He was also a good student and graduated from San Rafael High School in 1963.

From there, he attended San Jose State College, where he entered the Air Force ROTC program. He began to study engineering but found his calling in economics. Having been one of the fastest high school runners in track in California, he decided to tryout for the college track team, but three guys he ran against in tryouts, blew by him so fast he didn’t make the team. During the next Olympics games, he saw the three runners on the medal podium for the USA team!

Jim was commissioned as a second lieutenant by his father, Army Col Daniel Duffy, on his graduation in June 1967. He said that he came home later that day with his uniform in hand, and was greeted with “where are you going with that blue uniform son? This is a green House.” His dad made him leave his uniform in the car!

James served in the Air Force from 1967 until his retirement in 1988. During that time he earned an MBA from Michigan while working and raising a family. With his economics and master’s in business administration, he was always looking to improve productivity and save money during his career in the military. He had success in this area and was given commendations for improving systems and saving thousands of dollars for the Air Force. Over his 20-plus-year career, he was stationed in Dover, Delaware where his first two daughters Laura and Julie were born. From there they moved to Hickam AFB, Hawaii where he stayed six years as a logistics officer. He was often flying to places like Pago Pago, Australia, Thailand and Tahiti for work. He was privileged to bring back both the casualties and the POW’s from Vietnam. Another great assignment was as the Commander of Johnston Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He had responsibility for a joint Army, Air Force program of decommissioning old chemical weapons from WWI and WWII. While he was there he got certified and learned to scuba dive. The junior diver was the first in for “shark check”, when he did his first shark check and found himself surrounded by shark.  Quickly thinking he didn’t want to be the only one eaten, he told everyone it was clear, so they jumped in and the sharks dispersed. He loved to tell this funny story about his times diving.

Jim loved air planes and was able to work as the systems manager for the F-111 at McClellan AFB. He was responsible for tracking and helping make improvements and upgrades to all models of the plane. This again got him to Australia to work with the Australian Air Force, because they had F-111’s in their inventory. He talked fondly about all his trips to Australia and finally was able to visit again for leisure in 2017 as a surprise trip for his wife.

From Sacramento, Jim was called to Los Angeles for his next assignment. It was supposed to be at Vandenberg, that changed, he kept trying to fight the move but ended up in a new program no one knew anything about. It was called the Global Positioning Satellites program or GPS. After he had been with the program for a few months, he told his team this program would be the one that they would eventually be most proud to be associated with. He could tell that it would change how the world navigated from place to place. The program was to be for military use first, then planned for worldwide dissemination. He and his team were responsible for the logistics of all ground and satellite equipment and for getting funding from all the services to pay for the equipment that was going to be brought into the military. This meant that he was gone doing briefings, from Hawaii to the Pentagon, Monday-Friday for 37 of 52 weeks in the first two years of the program. It was during this time that he met his future wife Raelynn, who was also a captain in the Air Force on a flight to Wright-Patterson AFB.

After retiring from the military, Jim applied for a manager position as a contractor with Northrop Grumman. They sent him a letter a few months later thanking him for his interest but not hiring him! Huh, the audacity of not hiring a guy who was perfect for the job. Instead his old Air Force boss called him and finally got him to come work at ATI where he did proposals and was eventually placed in charge of the computer systems, communications, and network operations for Los Angeles AFB. This was hilarious because he knew nothing about computers, typing, or networks, but his boss knew Jim’s strength as a manager would allow him to successfully hire and manage the people who did the work. He was well respected by his team and was known for pushing his people, both in and after the military, to do their best and improve their skills through gaining degrees and training. The really ironic part of Jim being a civilian contractor was that the company he was originally hired by was sold to another company, then Black and Decker and finally to Northrop Grumman where he had first applied. They wanted to promote Jim to a Vice President position and move him, but his mother grew ill around that time, and he decided to retire instead, allowing him to spend time with her. When he retired Northrop counted his 25 years with all the little companies and the 12 years with them and gave him a retirement.

Following his second retirement, Jim started to devote more time to his favorite sport of tennis. He had picked up playing tennis in Hawaii when they started a sports fitness program in the Air Force. Teaching himself, asking people to play with him and entering tournaments to get better. Tennis became one of the great loves of his life, he played for 50 plus years. He played singles with friends from the Air Force in his active duty days. Then when he was around 70 he started playing doubles with an international group at Wilson Park where he formed wonderful friendships. He played three to five days a week for about four hours a day with them for the past 10 years. Because they were outdoor, and six feet apart, they could even play during Covid. He was one of the oldest players in the group and was always positive and encouraging with everyone. If someone was down or angry, he would tell them they had a choice to be happy and enjoy the beautiful weather and good friends, or be a grumpy guy. He loved when they would bring their dogs to the courts for a visit and enjoyed their discussions about many things, ranging from topics like food and entertainment, to politics and religion, where they always upheld respect and care for each other. He continued to play tennis, and even at 80, he would come home and brag about “outplaying most of the younger players”, some of whom were half his age. When he would make a mistake or mishit a ball he would yell “sugar” because he was irritated with his performance. This gained him the nickname “Sugar man” from his pals he would play with.

During the nearly 40 years James has lived in Torrance, he continued to worship at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church. He made many friends there over the years of attending mass and various church functions.

James is and will be greatly missed by all of his family and his many friends. He leaves behind his wife, Rae Lynn, daughters Laura Phillips, Julie Bella and Megan Duffy. His younger sister Linda Williams and her family from Houston, Texas. He also will be greatly missed by his six granddaughters, Ashley, Emiley, Hailey, Lindsey, Foster and Madison, two grandsons, Corey, and Owen and his seven great-granddaughters, McKinsey, Samantha, Emma, Ava, Chloe, Charlee, and Vivian. They will miss his cuddles, playfulness, and wisdom.

Services will be held on 27 February 2026, 10:00 a.m. at St. Lawrence Martyr, 1900 Prospect Ave., Redondo Beach. Followed by a military honors service and internment at Green Hills Cemetery, 27501 S. Western Ave., Rancho Palos Verdes. There will be a celebration of his life at the Elks Lodge, 315 Esplanade, Redondo Beach, Ca from 3-8 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please consider a donation to your favorite veterans charity in his honor.