Residence on Greenbelt Submariner Broke Barriers, Served Country

GREENBELT, Md. - Nov. 8, 2013 - PRLog -- Joseph C. Sheffey, Jr. traveled the world both on land and in the sea before he became part of The Residence on Greenbelt family. Along the way, Sheffey was a trail blazer who attained rank and responsibilities that once were uncommon among minority servicemen and women.

     “The submarine force, they didn’t have too many minorities,” said Sheffey, 81, who is part of The Residence on Greenbelt senior living community in Lanham, Md. “Most broke down to two minorities on each submarine. I was an oddity because most of the minorities were stewards or cooks, and I was a weapons person – conventional and nuclear weapons. That made my position unique.”

     A native of Montclair, N.J., Sheffey joined the Naval Reserves in 1948 and was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1951. For 31 years, Sheffey served his country while also traveling to places such as Turkey, Greece, Spain and the Azores. He spent 28 of those years serving onboard submarines.

     “I was called a weapons officer, but I was a chief torpedo man,” said Sheffey, who served at the beginning of the nuclear age. He said he was the first African-American torpedo man on a number of subs, and he was part of a number of other first for a black male, including 12 years as a Weapon’s Safety Officer. He was a Safety Manager at the Naval Underwater Systems Center in New London, Conn., a postion he took after his retirement from the Navy and held until a second retirement in 1994.

     Sheffey’s role was instrumental.

     “The Navy was going through a transition for my first four or five years in,” Sheffey said. “I was a minority affairs officer and I addressed racial problems at each command. I was like the captain’s right hand in solving racial problems and improving relationships.”

     Sheffey served as an officer for many years in New London. He received special training in Florida and he set up training for 2,000 staff and students about minority affairs and cultural diversity.

     Sheffey had plenty of support. In 1953, he married his wife Barbara, and the couple settled in New London and raised a family. Their marriage lasted 58 years until Barbara’s death in 2011. He has three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

    While living in Connecticut, the Sheffeys helped establish the Child Adoption Resource Association and placed 125 children with loving families. Sheffey served as executive director of the association for many years.

     “The state of Connecticut was trying to find minority families for the many minority children they had in their system,” Sheffey said. “There are 500,000 children in foster care at any given time, and 75 percent of those are minority. I helped the state of Connecticut set up a program where the children would come home to the same family and it was a family environment.”

     Sheffey served on town planning and zoning commissions in New London area communities. He is a past regional director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. He received the Ledyard Jaycees First Citizen of the Year Award in 2001.

For more information, contact Dianne Bissell, Activity Director, The Residence on Greenbelt, at 301.486.1590 or dbissell@integracare.com.