1936 – 2013

SCARBOROUGH — The Rev. Richard A. Nadeau, 77, of Portland, died Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Gosnell Hospice House with his family present.

He was born in Madison on April 29, 1936, the son of Leo A. and Emaline (Richards) Nadeau. He attended Skowhegan schools and  graduated from high school in the Class of 1955. He attended the University of Maine in Orono and received a B.S. in education, in the Class of 1959. Later, he received a master’s degree in school administration from the University of Southern Maine.

Over several years, he taught in public schools at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Van Buren and Dixfield. In the late sixties, he was the education specialist at the Portsmouth Naval Prison in Kittery. While teaching, he worked several summers as an immigration inspector in Jackman and Van Buren.

In 1976, at the age of 40, he entered Blessed John the XXIII Seminary in Weston, Mass., to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Upon receiving a masters of divinity degree, he was ordained to the priesthood on May 17, 1980, by the Most Rev. Edward C. O’Leary at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

Father Nadeau was first assigned to St. John and St. Athanasius Parish in Rumford, and in 1984 as chaplin at St. Joseph College in Standish. In 1987, he was appointed pastor of St. Ann Parish in Bradley, where he served until 1997. He was then appointed pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Limerick, until he retired from parish administration on July 1, 2006.

He was a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus. He lived in Portland after retirement and continued to assist in area parishes as long as his health permitted.

He was a very special person in many people’s lives. He will be greatly missed by his fellow priests, family and friends.

He is survived by nieces, Michelle (Nadeau) Schaff and her husband, Lenard, of Middletown, N.Y., and Janice (LaCasse) Messer of Skowhegan; nephews, Steve Nadeau and his wife, Kara, of Boise, Idaho, Leo Nadeau of Salisbury, Conn., and Wayne LaCasse and his wife, Dee, of Tyler, Texas; two grandnephews; one grandniece; and several great-grandnieces and one great-grandnephew.

He was predeceased by his parents; brother, Leo A. Nadeau Jr. of Fort Kent; and a sister, Barbara LaCasse of Skowhegan.

A special thanks to Hospice of Southern Maine for their incredible care; the staff and residence of Deering Pavillion, and his Emmaus Brothers who were of great support to him and his ministry during the past many years.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.ctcrawford.com.