1924 – 2014

PASCOAG, R.I. — Brother René J.M. Chenard, SC, 90, of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Provincial House in Pascoag, R.I., died Friday, Aug. 15, at Overlook Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Pascoag.

Born in Lewiston, he was a son of the late Joseph and Emilia (Therriault) Chenard. Brother René died on the 70th anniversary of his first religious profession.

Brother René entered the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Arthabaska, Quebec, in 1940. He pronounced his first vows at Arthabaska in 1944, and his perpetual vows in Victoriaville, Quebec, in 1950. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree through the University of East Georgia.

Brother René served in assignments as a teacher in Canada from 1944 to 1948. In 1948, he started teaching in the United States at parish schools in Biddeford and Old Town, and in schools in Andover, Mass.; Woonsocket, R.I.; Sacred Heart Academy in Central Falls, R.I., for 14 years and for over 30 years at Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, R.I. He taught eighth-grade math there for most of those years, in addition to assisting in the bookstore. He retired to the Provincial House in 2008.

Brother René is survived by his sister, Liane Therriault, and her daughters, Doris and Joline; his sister, Lorraine Gelinas, of Lewiston, and her daughters, Claire, Suzanne and Cecile; his sister-in-law, Yvette Chenard, and her daughter, Florence; and the children of Rosaire, his deceased brother: nieces, Muriel and Jeanne, and nephew, Robert, all of Lewiston; and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was also predeceased by his brothers, Gerard and Raymond.

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