John J. Diggin Jr., 68, died at home in Rochester on Sunday Dec. 13, after a vicious battle with cancer. John was born in South Boston, the son of the late John J. and Alice (Hartnett) Diggin Sr., and spent most of his childhood in Dorchester. John also lived in Mansfield, Cambridge and Braintree before retiring and splitting his time between Rochester, Rose Point in West Wareham and Cape Coral, FL.
After high school, John enlisted in the US Army and served as a Military Policeman in Vietnam and in Korea, at one time stationed on the DMZ during the Pueblo Crisis. John attended Boston College nights while working for the Boston School Dept. as a custodian. He graduated from BC in 1975 with a BA in History. He went on to be President of the Boston Schoolhouse Custodians Union and then moved up to Supervisor and was the Day manager for the Boston School’s Facilities Dept. He retired in 2002 after 38 years of working for the city of Boston.
He leaves behind his beloved partner and best friend, Connie Eshbach of Rochester. He was the brother of Paul Diggin and his wife Marianne of N. Attleboro, Alice and her husband Bob Elstermeyer of Braintree, Mathew Diggin and his wife Tyna of Aiken, SC and Sheila and her husband Thomas DePaulo of East Boston. He is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, relatives and friends. He was the brother of the late James and Patrick Diggin.
Visiting hours will be from 10 am – 1pm with his funeral service to begin at 1pm on Thursday December 17, in the Wareham Village Funeral Home 5 Center Street Wareham. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be made to the Boston Street Railway Assoc. 5706 fund www.thebrsa.org/bsra/donate or the Rochester land Trust www.rochesterlandtrust.org