Juan Diaz, Catholic deacon who served Resurrection Church in Farmingville, dies at 84

Juan Diaz, who served as a Catholic deacon for more than three decades and offered spiritual guidance to thousands of his fellow Long Island Latinos, died at his Medford home of 50 years on Dec. 22.

He was 84 and he died from renal failure and other ailments, according to his daughter, Sylvia Diaz.

Diaz’s children said their father set the ultimate example of a life well-lived, both as a family man and as someone who served the community.

“He was a force in our family. A force of love, guidance and wisdom,” said his son, John Diaz, of Middle Island. “He was somebody who taught me lessons; he wasn’t someone who would lecture.”

Diaz was born in Patillas, Puerto Rico, in 1939 and moved to the South Bronx several years later following the death of his father, according to his daughter. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17 and served from 1956 to 1959 in the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a unit known as the “Screaming Eagles,” she said.

Diaz married Ana Elba in 1958. John was born in 1959, followed three years later by Sylvia.

The couple saved up and bought their Medford home in 1973, relocating their family from a public housing complex in the Bronx, Sylvia Diaz said, adding that at the time it felt like it was an “eternity” away from New York City. They moved next to Ana Elba’s sister, Zaida, and her husband, William Ayala, settling into what Sylvia Diaz said became an “idyllic” suburban life.

Diaz worked for what was then the New York Transit Authority as a subway motorman from 1966 until 1989, making the daily drive to Jay Street in Brooklyn in a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle. Doing so often meant spending the weekend scouring local junkyards for replacement parts for the aging high-mileage vehicle.

“That’s a hefty ride for a bug,” Sylvia Diaz said.

In 1990, Diaz was ordained a deacon. He was assigned to St. Anne's R.C. Church in Brentwood in 1995, his daughter said. There, Diaz offered crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy and spiritual guidance for the Latino community of over 3,500 registered families.

Jose Avila, of Port Jefferson, emigrated from Colombia with his wife and infant daughter in 2000 and became one of those congregants. Avila said Diaz offered their family support and advice at a time when they spoke little English and had few extended family members nearby.

“We found in Deacon Diaz a person to go to as new immigrants trying to learn and grow,” Avila said. “He was someone who could speak our language and understand.”

Diaz later served as a deacon at Resurrection Church in Farmingville for more than two decades.

Sylvia Diaz, who is the executive director of the Suffolk County Community College Foundation, called her father her “hero and protector.”

“He’s the strongest guy I've ever met,” she said. “Tough and tender at the same time.”

In addition to his son and daughter, Diaz is survived by his wife; adopted sons Thomas Telfer, of Lake Ronkonkoma, and Donald Ayala, of Medford; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A wake will be held Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Church of the Resurrection in Farmingville. A funeral mass will be held at the church at 11 a.m. Friday followed by burial at Calverton National Cemetery.

Donations can be made in Diaz’s name to the Suffolk Community College Foundation’s Sister Mary Ann Borello's Helping Hands Fund, which supports a food pantry for needy students and their families.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.