Gordon Doucette

Gordon passed away peacefully at home on December 16, 2011 in his 90th year.

Gordon will be forever missed and lovingly remembered by his wife Lorraine, his children Virginia (Bob O’Reilly), John, Jane (Bob Baldwin) and Claire (Dave Fraser), his granddaughter Gracie Fraser and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his first wife Bernice MacNeil and his brother Keats.

Gordon was born in 1922, son of the late Jack and Mary Helen (Lord) Doucette.

For more than a decade, Gordon battled heroically the effects of a debilitating stroke, but his life was marked by much more than illness, instead by good humour and a loyalty for the community in which he lived his entire life.

Gordon served as a navigator in World War II in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force from 1942 to 1945, with squads on coastal patrols over Nothern Ireland, Wales and the Azores. After the war he served as a municipal councillor for a term for the district of South Ingonish. In 1947, Gordon joined the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as the Fishery Officer/Inspection Officer for Ingonish and North of Smokey. During his career, he also travelled on special duty across Canada including a stint in the high Arctic. For 40 years, he worked with great consideration for the fishermen he worked with, always with a ready smile and a sense of humour. His greatest honour was the opportunity to present his daughter, Claire, with her Fishery Officer badge as one of the first female Fishery Officers in DFO.

Gordon served for years on the Board for the Buchanan Memorial Hospital in Neils Harbour. In 1983, he was awarded Citizen of the Year by the Lions Club of Cabot Trail.

Gordon was a great athlete – tennis, lifeguarding and, in his younger days, braving Smokey on wooden skis. He became an avid golfer and when not in the office was sure to be found enjoying Cape Breton Highland Links, where he once carded 87, arguably his proudest moment on the course.

The family wishes to thank Dr. Ken Murray, Home Support (the ‘Care Bears’), our visiting nurses and all our special friends who were always there with compassionate and professional support.

Visitation will be held 2 -4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, December 20th at Fillmore & Whitman Funeral Home, Ingonish. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Wednesday December 21st at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Palliative Care – North of Smokey or St. Peter’s Cemetery Fund.