GRAND BLANC, MI — Eileen Weeks Boucher age 91, died Thursday, May 31, 2012. She was a communicant at Holy Family Catholic Church, born on February 15, 1921 in New Haven, CT, she was the foster daughter of Elizabeth and George Weeks. In 1943 Ms. Boucher graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing in New Haven and later did graduate work at New Jersey’s Margaret Hague Hospital. She moved to Maine in 1957 with her husband, Walter. In 1972 she completed the University of Maine/Maine Medical Center requirements for certification as a Pediatric Nurse Associate.
Over the course of 25 years as a school nurse in Brunswick and at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, Ms. Boucher continued to take courses in child development and health. She retired in 1990.
Ms. Boucher worked to improve the Health Education Program in the Brunswick Schools, serving as Director and Coordinator of an In-Service Health Education Program for elementary school teachers. She was a charter member and, for a time Chair, of the School Nurse Organization, an arm of the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (MAHPER). It was at this time that she worked diligently with a committee on developing state standards of education and certification for school nurses, which were approved by the State Department of Education in Augusta. In 1971 Ms. Boucher received a Special Honor Award for Distinguished Leadership from MAHPER. In celebrating her accomplishments, colleagues acknowledged “Eileen’s willingness to meet a challenge and resolve problems to get the job done while, at the same time, exhibiting strong personal qualities of warmth, friendliness and cooperation.”
Ms. Boucher was committed to community service. She was appointed for two terms on the Child Welfare Advisory Committee in Augusta. She was on the Board of Directors for the Brunswick Area Student Aid Fund, chaired the Brunswick Adult Drug Alert Program and was a member of the Youth Development Center for Retarded Children, the Brunswick Drug Abuse Center and the Regional Hospital Auxiliary. She was a volunteer at the Mid Coast Hospital, Bath-Brunswick Mental Health Association, and Home to Home.
In Brunswick she had been a past member and on the Parish Council of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and a communicant of St. Charles Catholic Church.
As a young woman, Ms. Boucher enjoyed fly fishing. She and her husband, who died in 1996, would fly to remote areas in Maine to fish with flies they had tied over the winter.
A member of the Maine State Golf Association and the Brunswick and Mere Creek Golf Clubs, Ms. Boucher also enjoyed playing golf until very late in her life. She belonged to Friends of Curtis Memorial Library, Friends of Bowdoin College, the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust and, as an avid gardener, the Harpswell Garden Club.
Since 2000. She had lived in Grand Blanc, where she continued her lifelong commitment to the care, compassion and friendship she gave to all she knew.
Most of all Eileen Boucher loved and enjoyed her family, sons, George J. and his wife Pam of Sugar Land, Texas; Thomas W. and his wife Sally, of Grand Blanc, Michigan and her five grandchildren, Sarah, Jennifer, Stephen, Mary and Michael and their families, and her two greatgrandchildren, Easton and Nicole.
Memorial Mass was celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday, June 4, 2012 at Holy Family Catholic Church, 11804 South Saginaw Street, Grand Blanc, Father Ken Coughlin officiated. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to Holy Family Catholic Church, 11804 South Saginaw Street, Grand Blanc, MI or charity of donor’s choice. Your condolences may be shared with the family at www.swartzfuneralhomeinc.com.
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