BHS grad, WWII veteran dies at 88

Captain James Stefano, who graduated from Baldwin High School in 1943, served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and then returned home to follow his passion for boats, passed away May 17 in Myrtle Beach, SC with his daughter, Wendy, holding his hand. He was 88 years old.

The son of Dr. James Joseph Stefano and Florence McKenna Stefano, he attended Villanova University, and after his discharge from the Navy, was a member of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps and licensed to navigate passenger carrying vessels with the U.S. Coast Guard. He said he was always grateful to his younger brother, Bob, for becoming a physician because it meant he didn’t have to.

Instead Stefano opened his Colony Cove Boat Shop in Baldwin in the early 1950s. He was very familiar with the indigenous design, the “Verity” Skiff, a lapstrake open boat that featured a box keel for stability that could sit flat when beached.

The title “captain” was more than an honorific; Stefano held his USCG Master’s license for more than 50 years

“Jim” worked with his friend Fred Scopinich at his family’s yard on Woodcleft Canal in Freeport and was also mentored by Sam Verity, a noted builder of the type of vessel that carried his family name. With an artist’s eye and a craftsman’s hand, Stefano created his own lapstrake skiff, a plywood one with a flat bottom that could be powered by an outboard of up to 40 horse power. He was making them and selling them as fast as he could; they were on display in front of Lott Brothers’, a fishing and marine store then located on Atlantic Avenue in Baldwin, now located in North Palm Beach, Florida. The owner, George Lott would call the shop and tell Sefano, “Make the next one Blue,” said Frank Pasalaqua, a noted Bayman himself. “George had already sold the boat before Jim had it finished!”

Stefano built boats “on Spec” (Speculation) where he would design and build a boat and then hope someone would buy it from him at a profit. He also built boats “to Spec” (Specification) where a customer would contract with him to build a specific type of boat for a pre-determined price.