RUMFORD – Philip J. Mercier, 83, of 310 Franklin St., Rumford, husband of Theresa (Bourgea) Mercier, died Thursday, Oct. 27, at the Maine Veterans Home in South Paris.

He was born in Rumford on March 28, 1922, the son of the late George and Mathilda (Coulombe) Mercier. He attended Rumford schools, graduating from Stephens High School in the Class of 1940.

He was a veteran of World War II, serving with Naval Radio Intelligence. He married his wife, Theresa, on Oct. 12, 1945, in Seattle, Wash.

He was a resident of Rumford most of his life and served on the Public Service Commission, the Board of Selectmen, the Charter Revision Commission and the By-Law Review Commission. He moved to Rye, N.Y., in 1972 and subsequently served as superintendent of public works from 1976 until his retirement in 1989, after which he moved to Naugatuck, Conn., where he served as recycling coordinator for one year, and returned to Rumford in 1991.

He was an honorary life member and grand knight of Father Ambrose J. Barry Council 2091, Knights of Columbus; a life member and past president of the Westchester County Association of Municipal Public Works Administrators in New York; and a life member of the Rumford Lodge of Elks.

Besides his wife, of Rumford, he is survived by four sons, George, of Bowie, Md., Michael, of Warren, Ore., David, of Vancouver, Wash., Peter, of Santa Rosa, Calif.; and one daughter, Marie-Elena Jablonski, of Watertown, Conn.; one sister, Theresa Duplisea, of Las Vegas, Nev.; one brother, Alphonse, of Rumford; 15 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

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