1923 – 2003

SOUTH PARIS – Maurice J. Goudreau, 80, former owner of Maurice Goudreau Real Estate, passed away Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Maine Veterans’ Home, South Paris.

He was born in Rumford on July 22, 1923, the third of nine children of George and Marie Anne Roy Goudreau. He was a 1943 graduate of Stephen’s High School in Rumford, and entered military service immediately after graduation.

During World War II, he served as an interpreter and as a sharp shooter. He was an interpreter and crossed Europe on foot, serving in five major campaigns, and earning a badge for M-1 Rifle Sharpshooter, and medals for European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. He was also a recipient of the five campaign medals including the Battle of the Bulge, the Hertken Forrest, Takeover at Alsace Lorraine, Ardennes and the Siege of Normandy (D-6).

His strong faith, sense of adventure and sense of humor carried him through two years as a field lineman, and private first class in Europe, and despite the dangers, near misses and series of high jinx, he came out safely. That sense of humor carried him through most of his life and was enjoyed by all his family. Although he did not often speak of his experiences in the war, when he did, he amazed family members with his accounts of the experiences he shared with many other brave men in his battalion, many of whom never made it back home.

He met his future wife, Constance Pelletier, at Stephen’s High School, and they were married on Aug. 12, 1947. After returning home from war, he began work as a millwright for Oxford Paper Company, and retired after 31 years from Boise Cascade. While working at Boise Cascade, he studied to become a real estate broker, and subsequently opened a real estate business with his wife, Connie. He and Connie shared the work in each others’ businesses, he in real estate, and she in antiques. He often cheerfully prepared family meals when Connie had customers who stayed late. The family’s fondest memories are of Maurice taking them to Pine Point each summer and cooking fish for them on the grill.

He held memberships in the V.F.W, the American Legion, and was a former member of the Knights of Columbus. He was a Communicant of St. Athanasius-St. John Church. He enjoyed cooking, fishing, antique hunting with his wife, raising tomatoes, football games and sitting outdoors with his favorite dog, Ivy.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Connie, of Rumford; two sons, George Goudreau of Arlington, Va., and Matthew Goudreau of Rumford; one daughter, Maureen Goudreau, of Rumford; three sisters, Pauline and Claire Goudreau of Rumford, and Priscilla Dupill and her husband Henry of Rumford; four brothers, the Rev. George Goudreau of Rumford, the Rev. Paul Goudreau of St. Michael Parish, Hudson, Fla., Msgr. Joseph Leo Goudreau, Chaplain United States Army, Fort Myer, Va., and Robert Goudreau and his wife Elizabeth of Woburn, Mass.