1929 – 2017

BIDDEFORD — The Rev. Francis (Regis) Blouin, of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, died Saturday, Jan. 21, at St. Andre’s Care Center in Biddeford.

He was born in Rumford on Feb. 9, 1929, to Raoul and Marie (LeBlanc) Blouin. The end came after a five-year struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

The Rev. Blouin began his religious life in August 1942 upon joining the Brothers’ high school formation center in Alfred. He pronounced first vows on completing his novitiate year in 1947 and perpetual vows in 1952.

His long career as a very successful educator began in 1950 in Fall River. In 1954 he was assigned to Mt. Assumption Institute in Plattsburgh, N.Y., becoming its principal in 1963, a position held until he was named province superior in 1970 with headquarters in Alfred. In 1978 he became the third president of Walsh College (now University) in Canton, Ohio. Upon retiring from that position in 1993 he returned to Maine to serve as Portland diocesan vicar for religious and in 1994 was appointed for a second term as provincial superior. Upon completing this six-year term he remained in Maine engaged with York County Shelter housed on the Brothers’ Alfred campus.

In 2004 he came out of semi-retirement to direct the establishment of Kisubi Brothers University (KBU) in Uganda. When his life became complicated by health issues (later diagnosed as ALS), he returned to Alfred to continue several writing projects full time. In December 2015 he became a resident of St. Andre’s Care Center in Biddeford. At Thanksgiving he expressed his gratitude for the help and support he received from the staff of St. Andre’s. Compassus Hospice also offered some much-appreciated assistance and consolation.

He will be greatly missed by his grateful confreres among the Brothers of Christian Instruction in the U.S., Canada and Uganda; and his surviving sisters Rita Brodeur and Gloria Bernard of Maine and Raymonde of Rhode Island; and by many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers, Louis and Jean Paul; and sister, Alice Theriault. 

A more extended biography can be accessed at the Brothers’ Facebook page Brothers of Christian Instruction, Notre Dame Province, USA and at www.blackfuneralhomes.com.


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