WINSLOW - Raymond Adrien Pelletier, 89, passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, April 28, 2019, surrounded by his loved ones. He was born on December 23, 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression, the eleventh of twelve children of Patrick and Desneiges (Plante) Pelletier. Despite having been raised in poverty and having faced great adversity
throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated determination, resourcefulness, frugality, integrity,
vitality, grit, sincerity, kindness, and resilience, modeling these qualities for his family and friends.
Raymond, the first in his family to graduate high school, attended Winslow High School, Class of 1948. He was on the Periscope staff and participated in numerous sports, lettering in baseball and football. During the final game of his senior year, he scored the game-winning touchdown against Lawrence High School. He was later selected as a running back on the All-Maine Team.
After high school, he attended Coburn Classical Institute until its closure. He then attended the
University of Cincinnati, but withdrew due to financial constraints. In 1950, he enlisted in the
Navy where he rose to the rank of Ensign 1 as a diesel engine mechanic in the Engineering Division aboard the Battleship USS Wisconsin.
In 1952, he married Jeanne I. Poulin, his high school sweetheart. In 1954, Raymond received an honorable discharge and returned to Winslow. Under the GI Bill, he attended the University of Maine at Orono where he studied chemical engineering. Following his freshman year, he withdrew to support his growing family. Though never able to complete his college degree, he instilled his value for education in all of his children. As indicated in his high school yearbook, Raymond’s ambition was to become successful, and though he may not have “succeeded
Einstein” as was predicted by his classmates, he raised six children, each of whom graduated from Harvard University and subsequently became his “dream team” of professionals in the fields of education, engineering, finance, law, and medicine.
Throughout early family life, numerous Poulin family members devoted themselves as loving caregivers for Raymond and Jeanne’s six children during times of family need. In later family life, Raymond cared for his six children as a single parent. From 1955 to 1992, Raymond worked as a union ironworker and became a sixty-five year member of Ironworkers Local 496. He contributed to the construction of U.S. Navy communication towers, U.S. Department of Defense nuclear missile silos, bridges, paper mills, and numerous commercial and public buildings, including the Maine State Capitol Building and several hospitals. After retirement from active construction work in 1992, he continued for over a decade to serve as an instructor of rigging, reinforcing, and welding for the ironworkers apprenticeship program and the Maine Technical College System. He was a lifetime member the American Legion, Post Number 5, in Waterville and the Winslow VFW Post 8835.
He is survived by his partner and fiancée of thirty years, Martha (Grindall) Audet, his six children, Ronald Pelletier and wife, Ning Sawangjaeng of Lincolnville; Janice Pelletier and husband, Len Kass of Orono; Karen Pelletier and partner, Anu Makynen of Portland; Mark Pelletier and wife, Leslie King Pelletier of Winslow; Dominic Pelletier and wife, Beth Audet Pelletier of Raymond; and Jeffrey Pelletier and wife, Lilly Ampai Chiu Pelletier of Manhattan Beach, CA. Grandchildren include Kelsie O’Sullivan; Nigel Kass; Addie Pelletier and husband, James Smith; Brenna O’Sullivan; Ethan Pelletier; Rhiannon Pelletier and husband, Travis Guerrette; Eleanore Kass; Adrienne Pelletier; Dominic J. Pelletier; Kaylee and Sophia Pelletier; and step-grandchildren, Nathan and Awnin Oxley. Raymond is also survived by close friend and
nephew, Lewis P. Pelletier of Winslow and many other cousins, nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.
In 1989, Raymond met Martha Audet while working at Scott Paper Company in Winslow. Raymond became an important part of the lives of Martha’s children: Arlene and David McLean of Winslow; John and Ashley Audet of Winslow; and Beth and Dominic Pelletier; Martha’s grandchildren: Heather and Nate Boutin, Matthew and Rachel McLean, Joseph and Deanna McLean, Johnathan and Brittny Audet, Jesse and Taylor Audet, Cameron Audet, Walter Audet and Vivian Audet, and great grandchildren: Peyton, Preston, Lucy, Elaina, Parker, Benjamin, Carter, and Hadleigh.
Raymond was predeceased by his parents; ex-wife and mother to his six children, Jeanne (Poulin) Pelletier; brothers: Patrick, Rudolph, Gerard, Lucien (Mike), Leopold, Armand, Robert, Joseph (Donald); sisters: Anne Marie Mailloux, Juliette, Cecile Ellis; nephew, Patrick Ellis; several other nieces and nephews; and daughter-in-law, Nancy (Willey) Pelletier.
He enjoyed hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, driving, traveling, and helping his children and
grandchildren with homebuilding and maintenance. His skills with all things mechanical, as well as his work ethic, both on and off the job, were considered legendary.
Throughout his lifetime, Raymond was thankful for the many fine health care professionals that had cared for him, including Felicia Curtis, BC-HIS; David Preston, MD; John Poirier, DMD; Robert Berube, DDS; Akshu Balwan, MD, MBBS; Rachit Kumar, MD, MBBS; Glenn Healey, MD; Robert Dohner, DO, as well as for those that had risen to the level of his honorary “dream team”, the dedicated nurses at Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care and his favorite hospice nurse, Katie. For over a year, with the support of Martha and his children, Raymond battled mesothelioma while remaining in the comfort of his home. Affectionately called “Pépère”, Raymond expressed both his love and dedication for his family without end.
Visiting hours will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday, May 5, at Veilleux Funeral Home, 8 Elm Street, Waterville. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday, May 6, at 11:00 am at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 26 Monument Street, Winslow, with a reception/luncheon immediately following at the VFW on Veteran Drive, Winslow. There will be a private committal service with military honors at the Maine Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, 163, Mt. Vernon Road, Augusta at 12 noon on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. Please visit www.veilleuxfuneralhome.com to view a video collage of Raymond’s life and to share condolences, memories and tributes with his family.
Out of respect to those with allergic conditions and in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in
Raymond’s memory to: Winslow High School Athletics, Winslow High School, 20 Danielson St., Winslow Maine, 04901.
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The following words of remembrance were given by Jeff Pelletier at his father's funeral Mass on Monday May 6, 2019:
Hello everyone, and thank you for coming today. My name is Jeff, and I’m the youngest of Raymond’s six children.
Before I begin I would like to note that it was Raymond’s wish that each of his six children speak at his funeral, and although time constraints as well as the tradition of this mass prevent that from taking place here, there will be ample opportunity for his children and other family members to speak words of remembrance at the reception which will be held at the VFW hall at 175 Veteran Drive in Winslow immediately following this funeral mass. All here are welcome and encouraged to attend. In the meantime, I’ve been asked by the family to say just a few words of remembrance here, in memory of my Dad.
Raymond Pelletier was a devoted family man and a pillar of the Winslow community. He was hard working and resourceful; honest and kind; humorous and sincere; determined and resilient. He was a man of immense integrity, wisdom and vitality, frugal and efficient in his ways, yet generous and loving to others.
Unless he happened to be telling you one of his many humorous stories, he was efficient with words as well. He was the kind of man who would never preach to others about how best to pursue these qualities that we all hold dear – he would simply show them to you every day, through his actions. Among his family and friends he demonstrated to all of us how we, too, may pursue a life well lived.
Dad’s strength of character was mirrored in his physical strength. A lifetime of work had yielded him massive forearms and powerful hands, whose extraordinary strength belied his otherwise modest stature and the gentle kindness reflected in his brown eyes (which, after much family discussion, it was concluded turned partly blue in his later years).
Ray loved sports and excelled in them, having lettered in high school baseball and football, and having scored the game-winning touchdown against Lawrence High School in the final game of his senior year. But the topic of sports provides the perfect example of his generous character. He loved *watching* sports as well, and attended virtually every one of his children’s sporting events as they were growing up. And when his own kids were grown, he never stopped - and continued to attend the football, softball, hockey, and basketball games of not only his own grandchildren, but the children and grandchildren of others as well, related or not, finding pure joy in sharing the accomplishments of others and their loved ones in the Winslow community.
Raymond placed tremendous value on education. Raised on a farm in Winslow during the Great Depression, he was the first in his family to graduate from high school. And although the economic challenges of raising a family ultimately prevented him from being able to complete his own college degree, he instilled his value for education into each of his six children, all of whom attended St. John’s elementary school, and all of whom went on to graduate from Harvard University, then onward to attain higher degrees in their respective fields. In retirement Raymond taught ironworking skills in the apprenticeship program at the Ironworkers’ Union hall where his knowledge, skills, and experience were legendary.
Raymond was close to nature, enjoying hunting, fishing, foraging for fiddleheads, and myriad other outdoor pursuits throughout his lifetime. He always kept a garden, but in his later years devoted himself to it, returning to the farming that he grew up with. In his last season he sprouted his corn from seed in the basement, tilled the garden himself, planted it, nurtured it, and in the fall harvested it, then ate for himself and shared with others from his garden throughout his last winter. He showed my two six-year old daughters how to shuck corn, and to this day they still won’t eat fresh corn unless it comes from his garden. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him to get my kids to eat their vegetables!
Dad loved God’s earth and everything about it -- its seasons, its soil, its plants and animals . . . its people. All of creation. Now he’s left this earth but he lives on, in every one of us and in everything he has given to us.
He was no fan of leaving work unfinished, and he hasn’t. In his later years he lived with the immense satisfaction of knowing that, in his own words, “My job is done.”
Rest now, Dad. Rest in peace.
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