AUBURN – Alphonse William “Bill” Vallerand, 74, owner and chief executive officer of Glenrock Spring, LTD in Greene, passed away Feb. 10.

He was born in Auburn, April 12, 1932, the son of Alphonse and Geneva (Owen) Vallerand Bill became the fourth generation of his family to run the Glenrock Spring Water Co., established in 1892.

His wife and sons are continuing its operation. A large, witty, vivacious and colorful character, he excelled at a great number of interests. He was internationally renowned for his vast technical and historical knowledge of small arms, a passionate avocation. He was an initial investor and editorial board member of the national magazine Small Arms Review.

He grew up in Lewiston and Greene and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1950. He was a veteran of the Korean War, serving in an artillery unit of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1951 to 54. After being wounded and hospitalized, he returned home to Maine to take over the water business after the death of his father.

In 1957, he married Margaret Mary Toomey of Auburn, a nurse at the then-Central Maine General Hospital. They moved to the family farm at Glenrock Spring in Greene and reared six children. He oversaw the growth of Glenrock Spring from a one-man bottling and local delivery service to its current state with multiple trucks and nine employees and a 60-mile delivery radius.

The firm also includes his wife, Margaret Mary (Peggy) Vallerand, and his two sons, John and Peter Vallerand. A real family man, he loved to cook, go camping and do different projects with his children, and later his seven grandchildren.

Ever the entrepreneur, while in the Marine Corps he purchased a sewing machine to tailor and fit uniforms for his fellow servicemen, later making costumes for Civil War reenactments. His youngest daughter Christine, a fashion designer, often surprises people by telling them; “My father taught me to sew.” His interests went far beyond guns and water.

A topnotch raconteur, he would regale friends and family with stories from dawn to dusk, and few knew him long without gaining some insight into whatever subject was under discussion while hearing his unique and often humorous perspective on it. He loved machines, particularly vehicles, and began collecting and fixing up Land Rovers in the 1960s.

He and his family traveled about New England and eastern Canada to Rover gatherings. He became highly regarded as an independent Land Rover repairman and consultant on Rover’s mechanical idiosyncrasies.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Margaret Mary, as well as their five children and seven grandchildren; two sons, John William Vallerand, his wife, Tina, and their two children, Sharmane and Vincent of Greene and Peter Owen Vallerand, and his two children, Rebekah and Benjamin, of Turner; three daughters, Carolyn Tucker of Myrtle Creek, Ore., and her three children, Rhiannon Keller of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Owen and Dylan Tucker of Oregon, Theresa Vallerand Miller, and her husband, Christopher Miller, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Christine Vallerand Dupuis of Wonalancet, N.H.; sister-in-law, Sally Fahey Parker of Poland; as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was predeceased by his fifth child, Mary Lou Vallerand Powers; and his brother, Miles R. (Bud) Parker of New Gloucester.