Peter G. Trafton, 79, of Osterville, passed away peacefully at home on February 18, 2022. He was the loving husband of Gail (Crosby) Trafton of Osterville, with whom he shared 55 years of marriage.
Peter was born in Boston, MA to the late Drs. Marion (Zottoli) and Howard Trafton. Peter attended Hebron Academy and graduated from Huntington School. He then graduated from Tufts University with a major in Chemistry. He enjoyed a long career as a programmer and systems software manager.
He loved playing tennis. At one time he was ranked number one in New England in men’s doubles. Teaming up with daughter Pam, he earned the number one ranking in New England twice and obtained a national ranking by the United States Tennis Association in the father-daughter doubles category. He delighted in repairing and updating the remote cabin his grandfather built in Plymouth, where he spent his childhood fishing and enjoying nature and family. He loved reminiscing and sharing stories with old and new friends. He was also passionate about puzzles and strategy games of all sorts, golfing, playing piano, following the stock market, instigating political arguments, spoiling his family with Disney vacations, and badminton.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his three daughters and their families: Jodie Trafton, Emmit Hancock, and Zander, Ea, and Sylvie Trafton-Hancock of Castro Valley, CA; Pamela Trafton, James McSweeney, and Jillian McSweeney of Methuen, MA; and Wendy Trafton, John Pirone, and Acadia Pirone of South Burlington, VT. He was predeceased by his brother, Howard Trafton.
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About |
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| Name | Peter G. Trafton |
| Date of Birth | September 17th, 1942 |
| Date of Death | February 18th, 2022 |
| Home Town | Needham, MA, US |
| Other City | Barnstable, MA, US |
| Interests | Tennis, Puzzles, Boats, Fishing, Badminton |
| Favourite Saying | Perhaps not his favorite saying, but his last, "The game's not over"! |
| In Memoriam Donation | American Heart Association |
| In Memoriam Donation | American Diabetes Association |
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Memorial |
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| Funeral Home | Chapman Funerals & Cremations |
| Cemetery | Mosswood Cemetery |
| Address |
Barnstable MA United States |
| Location | Section 13, Plot 529 |
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Family |
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| Significant Other | Gail C. Trafton |
| Children | Jodie A. Trafton, Pamela Trafton, Wendy E. Trafton |
| Parents | Howard M. Trafton, Marion V. Trafton |
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Milestones |
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| 1942 | Born Boston, MA | ||
| 1942 | Lived in Needham, MA | ||
| 1960 - 1964 | Tufts, BS Chemistry | ||
| 1966 | Married Gail Crosby | ||
| 1966 | Moved to Boston, MA | ||
| 1966 - 1968 | Programmer, Shawmut Bank | ||
| 1969 | Programmer, Boston Woven Hose | ||
| 1970 | Programmer, Northeast Airlines | ||
| 1970 - 1979 | Systems Software Manager, Badger Corporation/Raytheon | ||
| 1973 | Daughter Jodie Anne Trafton born | ||
| 1976 | Daughter Pamela Gail Trafton born | ||
| 1978 | Moved to Squantum, MA | ||
| 1979 | Daughter Wendy Ellen Trafton born | ||
| 1979 - 2008 | Systems Software Manager, Boston Stock Exchange | ||
| 2006 | Grandson Zander Wolf Trafton-Hancock born | ||
| 2007 | Granddaughter Jillian Tayte McSweeney born | ||
| 2009 | Granddaughter Ea Kai Trafton-Hancock born | ||
| 2013 | Granddaughter Sylvie Jem Trafton-Hancock born | ||
| 2014 | Granddaughter Acadia Marion Pirone born | ||
| 2015 | Moved to Osterville, MA | ||
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Correction. This photo was in Maui, Hawaii. A fun vacation with all family members to date except Pam and Jimmy. Pam had no desire to fly that far and missed a fun time.
Nope, I correct your correction. That is the beach at Fort Wilderness. The photo is in a frame in my dining room. I promise I was there. It was a fun time and it took less than 3 hours to fly there. Haha!
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published a tribute .
On the final weekend of this past June, Norma and I visited Pete and Gail. It was a wonderful weekend. We had a lot of laughs, enjoyed our final game of Wizards, and for the umpteenth time Pete and I relived our long ago tennis and badminton conquests. We even got to watch the Red Sox sweep the Yankees.
In October of 1955 Pete and I both responded to a notice in the Needham Chronicle announcing a badminton program starting up at NHS. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Through the next 20 years we enjoyed hundreds of hours together playing tennis, badminton, golf and ping pong. To put it mildly we were both very competitive and off the courts we played all kinds of board games and card games. Each of us convinced that when we won it was due to skill, but if we lost it was just bad luck.
Pete always loved being on or near the water, whether in Squantum, Osterville, Singer Island, Squam Lake or Hawaii. This is among the many things the four of us had in common, and through their generosity we were able to enjoy many visits to their favorite places, especially Maui.
We will miss you Pete but thoughts of our times together will always make us smile.
published a comment .
Gail & his entire loving family,
I still think about Peter everyday since I sadly heard of his passing.
I feel lucky to have had a recent telephone conversation with Peter & Gail as a result of attempting to dial my next door neighbor's cell # and accidently connected with my friend , Peter.
One treasured memory that I have is when he invited me to Join Pam & Peter to take a day trip to the U.S. Open Tennis tournament for my first time. We all had a great time. I always admired Peter's Intelligence and knowledge of computer systems as we worked together for 20+ years. I always enjoyed our many conversations about the stock market. But, much more important, Peter loved to share updates of the accomplishments of his three daughters and his grandchildren. I can only say that I wish I had spent more time visiting Peter and Gail in Osterville, I truly enjoyed viewing all the pictures and milestones in Peter's life.
Bill A.
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published a comment .
I remember the wedding well.
Pete and I were close friends at Tufts. We both majored in Chemistry and siuffered thru it lots ..but we finally graduated..
Unfortunatey I left for Colombia in 1966 and returned to Fla Usa in 2000..So I missed a lot on Pete and Gails life..
But Pete was always a very dear friend. God bless him and Gail and daughters.
This was our day, April 16, 1966. Having dated for 7 years, completed our college education, and getting jobs we decided marriage would be our next step. Seven years later we started our family and created three wonderful, supportive, extremely competitive, intelligent, loving daughters. (Jodie 1973, Pamela, 1976, Wendy 1979). Life was full of fun, frustration, and memories were created. Peter enjoyed sports, namely tennis, golfing (always trying to best my score) , fishing, boating, and vacationing with his family. He decided upon a career in data processing that was extremely fitting to his ability to solve problems. A small deficit was his determination to understand every part of a problem and he would spend hours or days until he solved the issue. This also became a detriment (in my mind) when the electronic adventure games became popular and I could not get him to leave the keyboard. Disney trips with our children became a yearly adventure and to this day we continue our trips with our families and grandchildren. Pete had mobility issues so we began renting mobility scooters at the park and he enjoyed making us all run after him, he disappeared into shops, and not liking cell phones was very often hard to find. Our Osterville home was a work in progress and Pete and I learned a great deal about building. He enjoyed working with his hands and became quite a good carpenter, painter, and sheet rocker. Life was always filled with excitement. We traveled to NELTA and National Tennis tournaments that he competed in and acquired many rankings over the years with his prize ranking of NO. 9 National Father-Daughter Mixed with Pamela. His later years were filled with vacations to Florida, Bermuda, Hawaii, California and Vermont. These trips were shared with children, grandchildren, son-in-laws and me. We enjoyed life together and
have many memories to be happy for. ❤️
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published a tribute .
My deepest sympathy Gail, Jodi, Pam, Wendy and family.
Pete was a very Special Friend and I will cherish all of the fond memories we have all shared over these past 40 years, since working with Pete at the Boston Stock Exchange. Pete will be greatly missed. ❤️
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published a tribute .
The plaid flannel shirt,the suspenders , the thick , white long hair ( I kidded him that he would look good with a ponytail), Pete touched my heart with his smile, his positive words,
his sense of humor ,always willing to help someone. He surely helped me throughout the years.....
I will always appreciate his kindness !!!!
What a loving husband, and he would make a joke and Gail would giggle , just the cutest couple!!!
Pete would sit at the dining room table always working his mind on computer Internet challenging himself or his love of machines and tools ( which he had quite a lot of and he took good care of them)
Pete was a wonderful friend and he will be greatly missed!!
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published a tribute .
Another great quality in Pete is his patience because he did not mind taking the time to write on a piece of paper to communicate with me. We could write back and forth for hours and end up completing a book. When we run out of paper, we'd look for napkins, opened envelopes, bills, and newspapers with blank sides to continue our conversation. What's amazing about him is that, unlike many people, he would take all the time to share his stories, advices on stocks, or teach me something in writing and he would sit patiently while I write something back to him.
That shows that he sees the value of me as a person (that's one more great quality he has). I never got a sense that he saw me differently. That's what makes him a great person.
One more thing that surprised me about him doing what most people didn't bother to do. When we played a game or had a conversation, there was a phone rang and he went to pick up the phone. When he's done, he would write to let me know who was on the phone and what it was about. Most people don't do that because they just don't feel like doing that.
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published a tribute .
Pete and I always played card games - Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Wizards, Hearts, and such. He's very competitive and would do some trash talk, which I loved! One funny thing about him is that, when Gail played, he always blamed Gail for his losses even if Gail played well. He just couldn't accept his poor performances and losses. Sometime I felt bad for his losing streak and decided to let him win without letting him know. I'm sure that Pete would dispute this if he read this. Ha!
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published a tribute .
I have a lot of stories to share. Here's the first one: Every time I entered the family room where there was a TV set and he either asked me if I wanted closed captioning or grabbed the TV remote to turn CC on. That's very rare for a hearing man who could SEE what's missing and that's one great quality in him.
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published a tribute .
I was so sorry to learn that Peter has passed. I worked with him at the Stock Exchange for several years. His guidance was extremely beneficial to my career. But most of all I'll never forget his friendship over the years. My sincere condolences to Gail and all his family and friends.
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published a comment .
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