AUBURN — Bernard Clement, 81, passed away on Friday, May 18, after a long illness, with family and close friends by his side.

He was born Feb. 12. 1931, in Aussac, France, son of Alberic Clement and Marie Denise Antier. He was the youngest of four children, growing up near Angouleme. He earned his bachelor’s-level degree in industrial arts, specifically cabinetmaking, at College Cilliac in Angouleme at age 18, and he served briefly in the French military patrol service and as a civilian employed by an American military depot camp in the Aussac area after World War II.

By the early 1960s, he and his young family immigrated to America under the sponsorship of Roger Roy, to join other Clement family members. He was remarried on Dec. 23, 1979, to Priscilla “Pat” Ridley Ervin of Auburn.

He had been an active member of Grace Lutheran Church since 1980 and a member of Local Carpenter’s Union 407 since the 1960s. His mastery of all levels of carpentry and cabinetmaking were admired far and wide among his co-workers, friends and especially family.

He is survived by his wife and two children, son, Xavier of Lisbon, daughter, Sylvie Thorstensen and husband, Brad, of Haddon Township, N.J.; three stepsons, Paul Ervin and wife, Nava, of Roslindale, Mass., David Ervin and wife, Ellen, of Madbury, N.H., and Joseph Ervin and wife, Nanae, of Stow, Mass.; one stepdaughter, Sabrina Alaimo and husband, Bill, of Auburn; four grandchildren, Heather Wyman, Michelle Clement, and Emilie and Roy Thorstensen; 11 step-grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren; his two sisters, Rejane Thibault of Pataskala, Ohio, and Jacqueline in France; three nephews in the United States; and ex-wife, Ghislaine Clement of Lisbon.

He was predeceased by his parents; and one brother, Jean, all in France.

The family thanks Regine Langen, devoted live-in caregiver, as well as the Androscoggin Dialysis Center in Auburn for their dedication to Bernard’s treatment.

Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com.