Capitol Hill community builder Raiford Gaffney ed away on Friday, July 5, at her home across the street from Tyler Elementary School. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
Raiford will be ed by friends and neighbors for her community stewardship, much of which centered around St. Mark’s church, on Capitol Hill. She started attending services at St. Mark’s in 1997. Gaffney was an integral part of the St. Mark’s community, serving stints on the staff and participating in committee and stewardship activities to the church.
Gaffney also contributed a great deal to the Southeast Library. At the July 8th meeting of ANC6B’s Southeast Library Taskforce, Chair David Sobelsohn noted that Raiford “was the original vice chair and stalwart member of the Taskforce and came to every meeting. She attended the meeting with CM Charles Allen where we were able to get funds for the Arthur Capper interim SE Library facility.” Sobelsohn also mentioned that Raiford assisted the AARP in their free tax preparation service. “We will miss her terribly,” Sobelsohn said, before observing a moment of silence in her honor.
CHC reached out to Neal and Janice Gregory, of St. Mark’s for some 50 years. Neal ed Raiford: “We knew Raiford primarily through her work at St. Mark’s. She seemed to be involved in every aspect of a very active congregation. I wondered how she got the time and energy to perform the many services she rendered at the church as well as at other neighborhood spots where I encountered her such as the Hill Center, the Folger, and the Marine Corps Parade. She was a real ball of fire.”
Susan Sedgewick of the Capitol Hill Village (CHV) Advocacy Steering Committee recalled that Raiford “was a CHV member but most of her volunteer efforts with regards to Village-like activities were with St. Mark’s parishioners, many who did not live on the Hill.”
Gaffney was also a music lover. She was instrumental in bringing early music concerts to Washington venues, including St. Marks.
According to a biography supplied by St. Mark’s, Blanche Raiford Gaffney was born August 25, 1943 in Atlanta, Georgia. She had a long career in the federal government, working for the Army Intelligence School in Dundalk, MD; the National Security Agency; the Commodities Future Trading Commission; and, finally, the IRS, where she remained until retiring in 1998. Gaffney was extremely proud of her work for the IRS. In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, she said, “I was honored to work at the Internal Revenue Service for 15 years… and was amazed to learn how nonpolitical the IRS was compared with other agencies…Above the main entrance, a quote from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is carved: “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.”
In her final days, Raiford expressed gratitude to friends and community who came to offer aid, comfort, and . According to St. Mark’s: “Raiford has chosen to continue gifting our community by leaving her house to the church [saying], ‘St. Mark’s has been the family around me that I needed.’”
At 1 p.m. Saturday, August 10, St. Mark’s, 301 A Street, SE, will host a celebration of Raiford’s life. You can attend in person, or livestream the celebration at https://www.stmarks.net/calendar/2024/08/memorial-service-for-blanche-raiford-gaffney/ The livestream will start that day at 12:50 p.m.
