John Farley, the North Country Center for Independence Accessibility Consultant, passed away peacefully in his sleep sometime during the night of April 20, 2022. He did not suffer and now joins his wife and daughter in the next life. Those of us left behind feel deep sorrow and pain because we will never again speak with or see John in our offices.
John provided accessibility services with NCCI since 2007. Most of his work involved helping people with disabilities and their families make their homes more physically accessible, with ramps, lifts, and other modifications, so they could continue living independently or return to home from hospitals and care facilities. He worked directly with disabled people and their loved ones, in collaboration with community partners such as hospitals, county Social Services and Offices for Aging, and other nonprofit agencies like Clinton County Rural Preservation, Friends of the North Country, the Advocacy and Resource Center, JCEO, and the Senior Citizen’s Council of Clinton County.
John was also a strong advocate for community accessibility. It was his complaint about physical barriers at the Champlain Centre Mall that led to a statwide Attorney General lawsuit, resulting in Pinnacle Group making needed accessibility changes across the state.
This was very much John’s third career, after decades of previous business and engineering work, both in the U.S. and abroad.
John was a powerful presence in our office. He was interested in each of us, and he cared deeply about the agency, our work, and the people we served. One of the last things he said to me last week was “Robert, this agency is important. Our work is important. It must survive no matter what.” I think John knew then that his time was approaching, and he wanted me, and all of us to know how important the work we do and agency itself were to him and the community. John was a strong family man, and we were part of his extended family — he chose that. Let us in our grief, honor John’s memory by recommitting ourselves to each other, and to the independence and wellbeing of people with disabilities in the North Country
You will be missed John and never forgotten. We were so very lucky to have you among us.
There is a full obituary for John by his family, at the Press-Republican.
Robert Poulin
Executive Director