He was born one of six sons to Donat and Dorumene Lang Pelletier in Eagle Lake, ME, on March 9, 1919. The Pelletiers moved to this area during the Great Depression, and settled their family homestead on Middlesex Road in Topsham. To earn for the family, Mr. Pelletier worked as a loom repairman at the Verney Mill, the place he met the love of his life, Rita Lasonde. Shortly after their marriage, Mr. Pelletier was called to duty with the U.S. Navy during WWII.
He served with distinction in the European Theater as a Fireman First Class aboard an infantry landing craft. Later, in Okinawa, he served aboard his favorite boat, YMS-146, the yard mine sweeper which he was aboard when it was destroyed by a typhoon.
Upon returning to Topsham after his military service, he began his lifelong career as a machinist. He worked for nearly 20 years at the Hyde Windlass Machine Company, Bath, as a First Class Machinist. He later owned and operated Pelletier’s Machine Shop, Topsham, until his retirement after 20 years in 1982.
In his retirement he enjoyed traveling, puttering around his home and nearby pond, and camping and fishing on the Allagash Waterway with Rita and his brothers and sons.
He is predeceased by his wife, Rita; brothers, William, Arthur, Richard, Emile, Renaud; sisters Evelyn Perreault, Donalda Ruest, Helen Marquis. He will be sadly and especially missed by his daughter Jeannine Staples and her husband Lonnie; his sons, Alvey Pelletier and his wife Carri, Robert (Bobby) Pelletier and his wife Yvonne, William Pelletier; grandchildren, Rodney Woods, Kenneth Woods, Kellie Pelletier, Renee Prescot, Marie Sleight, Ryan Pelletier, Barbara Pelletier; several greatgrandchildren, many friends and neighbors.
He will be remembered by many who had the privilege to know him as a true shining star of the “Greatest Generation.”
Per his request, services will be private. Interment will take place at the Maine Veterans Cemetery, Augusta, where he will be reunited with his wife. Memories and condolences can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com.
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