NORWAY – Martin Patrick Labbe, 86, of Lewiston, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 24, at Stephens Memorial Hospital.
He was born Sept. 15, 1918, in Van Buren, the son of Albert J. and Laura F. Dumont Labbe.
On Aug. 2, 1942, he married Beatrice F. Baril at Camp Selby, Miss., in a beautiful military ceremony, along with several other couples from Lewiston.
He proudly served his country in the United States Army in the 103rd Infantry during World War II from March 12, 1941 through Aug. 21, 1945. He served in Guadal Canal, Northern Solomons, New Guinea and Luzon. He received the Asiatic Pacific Theatre Campaign Ribbon, the Good Conduct medal, the American Defense Service Medal, and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with Bronze Star.
He returned to Lewiston and went back to work at the Bates mill, where he had worked as a young man prior to World War II. In 1952, he moved his young family to California where he then acquired skills in the aircraft field as a machinist at Lockheed Aircraft. He would later retire in 1981 from Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut.
He was known as Marty to all of his friends.
He had four daughters, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Marty was Past Commander of the VFW Post in Lisbon, and also a member of the American Legion in Sabattus, and the Veterans of Foreign War. He loved the outdoors and fishing. His favorite spot in recent years was sitting in the arbor at the Maine Veterans Home in South Paris watching and feeding the birds while exchanging stories with his friends.
He is survived by daughters Paulette and husband, Christopher Crowley, of Lewiston, Madeleine and husband, David Thayer, of Willimantic, Elaine and husband, Keith Anderson, of Minnesota, and Sharon McKenna of Kentucky; sisters, Laurette Simoneau, Lillian Bonneau, and Irene Ouellette; grandchildren, Christopher Crowley Jr., Cynthia Crowley Imes, Michael Plummer, Martina Nistor, Robert Atkinson, and Beatrice Atkinson; great-grandchildren, Dominic Anthony Crowley, Carina Fay Crowley, Kayla Crowley Imes, Nicholas Nistor, Rebecca Atkinson, Zachary Atkinson, and Liley Atkinson.
He was predeceased by his wife, Beatice, who passed away Dec. 8, 2003; his sister, Yvette Gove; and brothers, Rudy and Leo Labbe.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Share your condolences, kind words and remembrances below. You must be logged into the website to comment. Subscribers, please login. Not a subscriber? Register to comment for free or subscribe to support our work.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.