Ten days after serving as grand marshal of the 2024 Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano, longtime San Juan resident Matt Gaffney passed away on April 2 after a long battle with cancer. He was 73 years old.
Gaffney was born on January 2, 1951 in Manhattan Beach as the fourth of six children to Gerald (Jerry) and Dorothy (Dottie) Gaffney. Jerry, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, was deployed to Japan in 1954 and took the family with him. The family lived, first in Kyoto, then in Tokyo, before returning to California in 1956, when they bought a house on Ganado Road in San Juan Capistrano.
While a child, Matt’s father helped organize the Swallows Day Parade and other notable city events. Matt’s participation in the parade also ran deep. Matt carried the Division 1 banner in 1963. He was involved in crowd control as a Cub Scout in Pack Thirteen Den One and as a Boy Scout in Troop 176. He was the first Boy Scout in San Juan Capistrano to attain the Ad Altare Dei Catholic award.
Matt went to Mater Dei High School and graduated in 1968. He followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Navy as a plank holder, or original member, on the USS Cook. He went around the world sailing from Boston, around the tip of South America, and into the Pacific toward the ports of Yokohama, the Philippines, and Da Nang.
Upon completing his active service, Matt returned to San Juan Capistrano. He dedicated himself to the Capistrano Unified School District, managing the warehouse and making deliveries to school sites. Simultaneously, he pursued his education at Saddleback College, studying business and contributing to the college's championship football team as an offensive tackle.
He earned his insurance agent license and then took over the Farmers Insurance office that his father had started, continuing the family legacy until late into his own life.
Married in 1983 to Patrice Zahn, he had one daughter, Laura. He soon became Laura's sole parent when he went through a divorce. He put Laura through Catholic school at Old Mission School and Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
Matt coached girls' softball and boys' football at Mission Parish School while his daughter was a student. He won three championships in four years for football and was proud to have taught so many great kids throughout his time coaching. While coaching, he co-founded the Mission School Booster Club and participated as much as possible throughout his time there.
His life in San Juan was a testament to his dedication to the community. Matt spent much of his life giving back to the community on various town boards and commissions since 1986, as a San Juan Capistrano Historical Society member since 1993 and a board member from 2003 onward, then as a chair and vice chair of the traffic and transportation commission between 1986 and 1992.
His most significant effort came as a member of the Open Space Committee from its inception in 2006 to 2010. The group secured the passage of Measure Y, which reserved open space for San Juan Capistrano residents. They built four parks in a year and a half — against the odds — including his favorite project, Reata Park off of Ortega Highway.
Being the 2024 Grand Marshal was his crowning accomplishment in San Juan. Missing only one Swallows Day Parade — in 1971, due to his two-year stint in the Navy during the Vietnam War — Matt marched in the parade since its founding years. He participated as a Boy Scout and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3801 and American Legion Post 721, for which he was a two-time post commander.
Matt is survived by his older brother, Joseph, younger sister Mary Ellen (Gaffney-Brown), daughter Laura (Holmes) and her husband Matt, and their two children, Jackson and Kennedy.
The family is planning a memorial Mass to take place at Mission San Juan Capistrano on July 16, with a celebration of life afterward. The family wishes any memorial donations to be made to the San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Association or the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society.