1915 – 2004

WATERVILLE – Lucien H. Bourassa, 88, died peacefully on Jan. 6.

He was born in Winslow on March 26, 1915, the son of Odilon and Berthe (Lemieux) Bourassa. His most recent residence had been at Mount St. Joseph in Waterville. He was educated in Waterville and Winslow parochial schools. He was always active in church activities and with Lionel Gagne was one of two servers at the first mass to be said at Saint John the Baptist Church at midnight on Dec. 25, 1927.

He graduated from Winslow High School class of 1935 as a member of the National Honor Society. He continued his education through correspondence courses for Drafting and Designing, and in 1945 was promoted to the Engineering Department at the former Hollingsworth and Whitney (H&W) plant in Winslow.

On Aug. 31, 1940, he married Anne Marie Guite, formerly from Maria P.Q., Canada. He and Marie celebrated 60 years of life together prior to her death on Jan. 26, 2001. In 1958, shortly after Scott Paper Co. acquired H&W, he moved his family to Westbrook and began working as a mechanical engineer for the S.D. Warren Paper Co. When Scott Paper later acquired S.D. Warren, he jokingly claimed that Scott wanted him so badly they were willing to buy an entire company to get him.

A tragedy struck the family shortly after the move to Westbrook. On March 5, 1959, their youngest child, Pierre, who was three at the time, was killed in a vehicular accident in front of the family home.

During his career as a mechanical engineer, he headed many large rebuilding projects in the pulp and paper mills. He also lent his talents to many civic and church projects, including expansions in the Westbrook schools systems and the St. Hyacinth Church parking lot.

He was elected to a two-year term on the Westbrook City Council in 1960 and served as Chairman on the Westbrook Sewer Department for six years. In 1984, he and Marie moved to Plano, Texas, where their daughter, Carole Clark resides. They returned to Winslow in 1990, and lived at Fontaine Oaks condominiums until early 2001. Wherever they lived, he and Marie found meaningful new friends and became involved in their civic and church communities. In Winslow they were Eucharistic ministers and members of the funeral choir at St. John’s church for many years. The only people who were not friends of his were the people he had not yet met.

He was an accomplished and avid ice skater and continued skating until ill health forced him to hang up his skates in the late 1980s. In 1972, he formed the Portland Skating Club. He was the Club’s president for three years and a member of the Board of Directors until the Club dissolved when the Westbrook skating rink ceased operations. Playing the harmonica was another of his hobbies. He was also a member of the Waterville Boys Club harmonica band that won the State championship in 1928. At the age of 86, he was still playing his harmonica.

He is survived by a sister, Aurelie Bourassa of Waterville; son, John Bourassa and his wife Theresa (DeAngelis) Bourassa of Winslow; daughters, Jean Sleeper of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Carole Clark of Plano, Texas; he will also be sorely missed by his grandchildren, Leslie Bourassa Nelson, Lynne Bourassa, Laurie Clark Christiansen, and Matt Clark; and great-grandchildren, Cooper and Avery Nelson; and many special cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Besides his wife Marie; and son Pierre; he was predeceased by a brother, Francois; and a sister, Mary Blanche Bourassa.

Copy the Story Link