Joseph F. Ouellette

Beloved husband of Catherine Ouellette (nee Koehne); loving father of Jennifer Ouellette and Rich Ouellette; dearest brother of Felix (late Marlene) Ouellette, Gisele (Jean Paul) Belanger, Rachel Ouellette, Paul (Rita) Ouellette, and the late Claude Ouellette, late Lorreane Ouellette, Reginald (Doris) Ouellette, the late Alice Ouellette and the late Fernande (Jacque) Belleau; our dear brother-in-law, uncle and friend to many.

Born in Edmunston, New Brunswick, Canada to the late Hubald and Blanche Ouellette, Mr. Ouellette crossed the US Canadian border to join the United States Army as a teenager.

He became a Sergeant and Communication Chief in Troop B, 2nd Reconnaissance, 7th Calvary, stationed in Bamberg, Germany from 1959 -1962. Mr. Ouellette began inventing during his military experience. He and fellow calvaryman, Bill Heath, were recognized for their invention of a new tester of communication equipment, that proved to be more efficient and portable.

After his honorable discharge from the military, Mr. Ouellette, worked on complex machinery at Xerox, Honeywell, & Nasa. He was a technician on the world’s very first computers at Honeywell. At Nasa, he did electrical work on the Saturn 5 booster.

In 1971, Mr. Ouellette founded OMS Ouellette Machinery Systems, Inc in Fenton, MO. His first invention, the Decapper, an automated system, that replaced a tedious manual system of removing bottle caps from glass bottles by hand before bottles were cleaned and refilled, increasing speed and efficiency for bottling manufacturers. His inventions for the packaging industry touch our daily lives. Countless products from juice containers, soda bottles, cleaning products, automotive oil containers, food cans and packaged dry goods are processed on Mr. Ouellette’s inventions. Clients include Dr, Pepper, 7UP, Ralston Purina, RC Cola, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Plastipak, Clorox, Urban Chesnut, Alaskan Brewing, CKS, Silgan, Quaker State, Mobil, Shell, Plaze, Ball Container, Amcor Rigid Plastics and more.

He was a self taught inventor with 50 plus patents for many innovative and intelligible electro-mechanical system designs. Some of his inventions can be found locally, such as his Earthquake Simulator at the St. Louis Science Center, the Momentum Machine and Electrical Bicycle Generator at the Magic House.

Mr. Ouellette was generous with his family and friends. He loved making people laugh with his storytelling and jokes. He also loved nature and spending time outdoors, fishing with friends and family. He was an honorable and supportive member of the American Legion Post 400 and a proud American.

A Visitation will be held Thursday, August 11th from 4:30-7:30 pm at Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary, 6464 Chippewa Street 63109. A Funeral Service will be held Friday, August 12th at 12:00 pm at Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary. Interment to follow at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery with Full Military Honors.

If desired, donations may be made in Joseph's name to the Wounded Warrior Project, www.woundedwarriorproject.org

Please leave a fond memory of Joseph for his family to cherish at the "Add a Memory" link below.