Calvin (“Junior”) Innerarity, 70, former pilot, scenic carpenter, and consummate storyteller, passed away peacefully on Monday, December 9, 2024, in Boston after a long illness, with his loved ones by his side.

  Born in the mountainous country of Moravia, Clarendon, Jamaica, Cal grew up under the care of his grandmother, the village doctor. He was nine when he flew to Boston with an older cousin to begin a new life with his mother and stepfather in Boston’s South End. There he quickly acclimated to public school, moving on to a spot at the top of his class at Boston Technical High School. Enrolling in Tufts University outside Boston, he worked his way through college as a mechanic and graduated in 1977 with a degree in economics.

          While at Tufts, Cal, with his sonorous baritone voice, discovered a gift for seamless song transitions, spinning discs every Friday night as a radio DJ. Host of the first all-reggae show in the area, Cal held a slot at WMFO off and on from the 1970s into the ’90s. At Tufts, he also met his wife-to-be, Teri Keough, mother of his daughter and “best friend,” Rachael Innerarity, born in 1983.

          Over the years, Cal, a Renaissance man, engaged in a variety of careers, even as he never stopped learning. His love of airplanes led him to Florida in 1986, where he worked as an airline mechanic while obtaining his private and commercial pilot licenses. When a back injury grounded him and kept him from his dream, Cal moved back to Boston in 1988 and forged ahead in a new direction. He merged creativity with an aptitude for building things to become a scenic carpenter at several area theater companies, including Wheelock Family Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, North Shore Music Theatre, and Harvard’s American Repertory Theater (ART). He also offered an innovative course in robot building at the Charles River Creative Arts camp in Dover.

             One more turn of direction was to come in 2009, when Cal returned to Jamaica to care for his ailing mother. Drawing on his gift of the gab, his sense of humor, and his love of people, he commanded a tour bus and ran a bed and breakfast in the beautiful Oracabessa, a stone’s throw from James Bond Beach.

          After returning to Boston in 2013, Cal, now in semi-retirement, continued to offer his carpentry and fix-it skills while taking care of those he loved (he was always the first to bring a plate of home-cooked food to the hospital or offer a ride to anyone in need). He was loved by virtually everyone he encountered, from neighbors to store clerks to the stranger whose car he got started on a cold winter morning. Most of all, Cal is beloved and dearly missed by his family.

            He is survived by his daughter, Rachael Innerarity; his former wife, Teri Keough; sisters-in-law Barbara Daley and Joy Forbes; and brother-in-law Peter Keough and his partner, Alicia Potter. He is also survived by nephews Jae Forbes, Lee Forbes, Michael Daley, Ryan McDonough and wife Jill Provost, and Sean Daley and wife Erin; as well as niece Kathleen Kearnan and husband Paul; and several great-nieces and great-nephews. He is predeceased by his mother, Hazel Forbes, his father, Aldwyn Innerarity, his stepfather Harry Forbes, his brother, Hoyt Forbes, and his sister-in-law Mary McDonough. His sister-in-law Susan Donnelly passed away in June 2025.

         In Cal’s memory, the family has established The Calvin Innerarity Memorial Fund at the Cambridge Community Foundation. This fund will support nonprofit organizations working in areas of importance to Cal, as an immigrant who loved learning and helping others. To honor Cal’s memory with a gift to the fund, look for a donation link on this site under “Calvin Innerarity Memorial Fund.” If you’d prefer to write a check, please write “Calvin Innerarity Memorial Fund” in the memo and send it to Cambridge Community Foundation, 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge MA 02139, or contact CCF at mrubin@cambridgecf.org.