U.S. presidents: Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. Personal life On November 20, 1937, Caffery, then 41 years old, married Gertrude McCarthy of Evansville, Indiana, while in Rio de Janeiro. They had no children. He retired with his wife in 1955 to reside in Rome, where he was an honorary Papal gentleman to Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI. He returned to Lafayette, Louisiana in 1973, shortly before Mrs. Caffery's death on July 13, 1973. Caffery himself died on April 14, 1974. The Cafferys are buried in the cemetery behind St. John’s Cathedral in Lafayette. Honors and awards He was awarded the Foreign Service Cup in 1971 by his fellow Foreign Service officers. He held several honorary degrees and decorations, including the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, in 1954. He received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour from the president of France in 1949 and the Order of the Cordon of the Republic from the president of Egypt in 1955. Ambassador Caffery was also bestowed a knighthood in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) by the Grand Master of that Order, for his outstanding service to the Catholic Church. A portion of Louisiana Highway 3073 in Lafayette is named the "Ambassador Caffery Parkway" in his memory. In 2000, Caffery was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. Head coaching record References Notes Sources External links Jefferson Caffery Papers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries 1886 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia Ambassadors of the United States to Cuba Ambassadors of the United States to Brazil Ambassadors of the United States to France Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt Laetare Medal recipients Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football coaches Tulane University alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni United States Foreign Service personnel People from Lafayette, Louisiana