Raymond Edward Vaillancourt

BERLIN- Raymond Edward Vaillancourt, 86, passed away peacefully at his home on 802 Fifth Avenue on Wednesday, December 15, 2010,with his daughters and sons-in-law present. Raymond was born in Berlin on August 21, 1924, the son of Rosaire and Alice (Gendron) Vaillancourt. Raymond was a Marine veteran of World War II serving in the South Pacific. He was a very patriotic man and proud to be a Marine, and until recently, he was one of the oldest surviving members of the Marine Corps in Coos County. He was a life member of the VFW post 2525, and continued service to his country as a member of the NH National Guard, retiring as a major. He attended Marine Corps events like highway pickups and road tolls. He even built the Marine Corps road toll barricades to help protect them while they collect donations for such a worthy cause. Raymond was employed by Gosselin's Plumbing & Heating, and owned stock in this company with Bill Gosselin for many years. Later he worked 20 years with Granite State Rubber Co. and finally 10 years before retirement he worked for G.H. Bass as a maintenance supervisor. He was a very mechanically gifted person who could fix or build most anything. Raymond had a great deal of faith in the concept of credit unions, serving on the United Brotherhood Credit Union board of directors for 27 years. He was proud to be a recipient of the Sherman Twitchell Award. The success of UBCU/Woodlands C.U. was very satisfying to him. His love for hunting and fishing brought about his association as chairman with the Androscoggin Valley Fish & Game for many years He had many happy times fishing all over the Northeast, Canada and Alaska, with friends and his family. His last fishing trip to Success Pond with Valerie, Scott and Alicia, was very special to him. Raymond's family was very important to him since the death of his son, Brian, in 2002. Get together weekends were attended by his children and husbands, grandchildren, and great-grand children occurred every summer at the Garran Camp in northeast Vermont. Raymond was very lucky to have family who loved him and took care of him, especially his daughter Valerie and son-in-law, Scott. He loved the gardens being kept up, and regretted staying in the nursing home too long. He was very happy to come home from the nursing home and be with family until his end. Raymond lived his life "his way", and what he said, goes .... ! Surviving family members are daughters, Frances Garran and husband Phil from So. Strafford, Vermont, Valerie Vaillancourt-Locke and husband Scott of Gorham, and daughter-in law, Helene Vaillancourt, Berlin, grandchildren: Philip Garran, III, Clint Garran and partner Beth Wizeman, Shawn Garran and partner Erin Flynn, Jamie Garran and partner Jonathan White, Jesse Garran and partner Jacklyn West, and Allison Garran. Barry Vaillancourt-Locke and wife Krysten, Alicia Rae Vaillancourt-Locke, Raymond Vaillancourt and partner Jamie Lafond, Karen Vaillancourt and partner Ed DePina, and Angela Vaillancourt, and great-grandchildren, Joshua Vaillancourt, Xavier M. Vaillancourt-Locke, Zackery L. Vaillancourt-Locke, Kyleigh Grace Vaillancourt-Locke, Aiden Vaillancourt and Tyler Mason Vaillancourt. He was pre-deceased by two sons Brian Vaillancourt and Barry Vaillancourt. Relatives and friendscalled from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., Friday, Dec 17, at the Fleury-Patry Funeral Home, 72 High Street, Berlin. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at St. Anne Church of Good Shepherd Parish in Berlin. Burial followed at St. Kieran's Cemetery in Berlin. Memorial donations may be made to the Berlin Health Department, 168 Main Street, Berlin, NH 03570.