SOUTH PARIS – Don Chretien went Home, Saturday, April 25, at the Maine Veterans’ Home, with his family at his side.

He was born on June 5, 1922, in Jay, the son of Luc and Exilla (LeBlond) Chretien. He was educated in Livermore Falls Schools and received his diploma years later in 1956.

He went to work on the Texas to Canada pipeline right of way in Gorham, N.H., in 1941, making the good wage of 50 cents an hour.

He was drafted into the service at the age of 20 on Dec. 1, 1942, and married Violet Brooks of Bethel while on furlough in 1943. Shortly after his marriage, he was shipped to England as a radio operator with the 115th Coast Artillery Battalion and was at D-Day plus one in Normandy. He served in five major campaigns in the European Theatre during World War II. He was discharged in December 1945 and worked in sawmills and paper mills for many years until owning his own construction company, employing as many as a dozen employees.

With his beloved first wife of nearly 50 years, he helped raise their two sons and was deeply involved in their activities, especially sports, in which they excelled. Their college education was his dream fulfilled.

After the death of his first wife, he later married Lorraine Brewer on Oct. 3, 1992, at the Fayette Baptist Church. They enjoyed traveling, especially to Prince Edward Island, to the Redwoods, trips to visit her brother in Louisiana, and many drives to Florida for extended visits.

He was a man who loved life, his family, and life’s simple pleasures. He loved to laugh and had the smile to go with it. A strong faith was his foundation. He was a member of the Bethel Masonic Lodge 97 in Bethel, the New Norland Grange in East Livermore, and the American Legion of Bethel.

Don spent the last year and a half at Maine Veterans’ Home in South Paris under the loving care of the staff of B-Unit.

He is survived by his wife, Lorraine Chretien of Fayette; sons, the Rev. Randall Chretien and his wife, Carolyn, of Eddington and Michael Chretien and his wife, Eileen, of Westbrook; stepchildren, Linda Reed and her husband, Tom, of Morganton, N.C., Elaine Makinen and her husband, Larry, of Gorham, Richard Brewer and his wife, Terry, of Greene, Patrick Brewer and his wife, Kathy, of Jefferson, Patricia Scruggs and her husband, Kevin, of Sarasota, Fla., Kenneth Brewer and his wife, Elaine, of Poland and Elizabeth Benson and her husband, Scott, of Poland; a sister, Antoinette Quirrion of Henderson, Nev.; grandsons, Jeremy Chretien and his wife, Debbie, of Hermon, Jeffrey Chretien and his wife, Amanda, of Plymouth, Todd Chretien and his wife, Jessie, of Oakland, Calif., and Joel Chretien of Westbrook; four great-grandchildren; 12 stepgrandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by seven brothers, Cyrill, Ronaldo, Leo, Philibert, Albert, Frank and Tommy.

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