Jeffrey R. Anderson

Jeffrey R. Anderson passed away peacefully on October 1st at Golden Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. He was 78.

Born June 2, 1947, Jeff lived a life of legend and adventure. He was born in Iowa City to John Robert Anderson and Patricia Cason Anderson and his early years were spent accompanying his family around the country on his father’s theatrical production tours, including the first touring production of Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’, in which Jeff, age 10, played one of the infamous ‘No-Neck Monsters’. After his family moved to Hollywood to further his father’s film career, Jeff spent his teenage years roaming Laurel Canyon, interacting with many film and music stars of the day, playing music at places such as the Hey Cafe, delivering food by bicycle for a local deli, and hanging out with his mentor Eddie Laguna, doing who knows what.

After a brief stint in Vista, Jeff took to traveling the West Coast from LA to Alaska, before embarking in 1969 on a cross country road trip in a Fifties Studebaker to start a family in Rosendale, NY with his first wife Dova. They moved into a house on Sawdust Avenue and Jeff, appropriately, began to work as a carpenter. Though the house began with no running water and only woodstove heating, it became a staple of the community, hosting get-togethers for many years.

An avid motorcycle rider, Jeff acquired his first bike at age 15, a pathetic 50cc Honda, but he quickly moved up and his passion led him to purchase many classic models through the years, including a Triumph acquired on a trip through England, on which he and his second wife Valerie road-tripped before and after being married in Somerset in 1978.

During his time as a carpenter and his subsequent General Contracting business, Jeff worked on countless houses and properties around Ulster County and beyond, including post and beam houses, outdoor theater stages, converted barns, and two elegant bluestone-facade homes in Lyonsville on which he and his wife Valerie collaborated. Jeff’s many projects, from houses to furniture pieces to children’s toys, are a testament to his artistry and commitment to craftsmanship.

Later in life Jeff worked for ACME as a ship’s engine mechanic, traveling to work on baseball field-sized engines in places such as Mexico and Mobile, AL. He was a proud TWIC member during that time.

In between other projects, Jeff spent his time fulfilling many jobs for the community: he was a snow plower, woodcutter, gravel spreader, helpful neighbor, and until May of 2024, ‘The Guy at the Dump’. He loved his job at the Marbletown Transfer Station, to which he committed himself in his last decade as a responsible, genial, and compassionate worker, with an occasionally gruff exterior but always a great sense of humor and friendly attitude towards the patrons, many of whom he counted as his friends.

Jeff was an animal lover, an avid cook and foodie, a wine connoisseur, and a dedicated reader, his favorites including The New Yorker magazine and biographies of president Ulysses S. Grant. He loved Westerns and other classic films, diverse music from blues to Spanish guitar to folk, and he enthusiastically collected strange objects such as woodworking planes, statues of pigs, and exotic kitchen knives. A favorite hobby to which he devoted himself in his recent years was smoking his own bacon, claiming to remember every slab he ever made. Many said it was the best bacon they ever had.

Jeff passed peacefully with his daughter Tricia and former wife Valerie at his side. He is survived by his four children Zoe, Floyd, Gemma, and Tricia, grandchildren Malacai and Ea, sister Kelsey, and nieces and nephew Caitlin, Jamie, and Cason and their children, and last but not least by his beloved cat Buddy, who identifies as a lapdog.

Jeff’s patience, charm, wit, intellectual curiosity, and dedication to good work were widely regarded in the community and will be greatly missed. In lieu of a charity, Jeff would want everyone to be thoughtful in their waste management practices, and to try to reduce the consumption and improper disposal of trash whenever possible.

Cremation arrangements are under the guidance of the George J. Moylan Funeral Home, and the community is invited to stop by the Marbletown Transfer Station on Sunday October 19 between its business hours of 10 and 2 to pay respects.