Laurentia Hortance Bilodeau, 92

Winslow – Laurentia “Billy” Bilodeau, 92, passed away on November 21, 2017 at Mount Saint Joseph due to a short illness. She was born in Canada to the late Odilon Lessard and Belzemire Quirion. Laurentia furthered her education in Waterville and worked over 28 years as a devoted employee for Sisters Hospital, Seton and Maine General Medical Center as a nurse’s assistant.

She was a Communicant of St. John’s Catholic Church.

Survivors are her children: Jean Marc and his wife Suzanne; Nicole Thompson; Doris Boulette and her husband Richard; Richard and his wife Donna; her sister Lucille Turner; sister-in-law Mona Steins Lessard; 12 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews.

She is predeceased by her husband Louis; her infant daughter Marie; her daughter Ginette Cathcart; son-in-law Brian Thompson; her brothers: Germain, Geradin, Raymond Marie, Marcel, Louis Phillipe and Yvon; her sisters: Cecile, Marie Marte, Genoria and Jeannine.

The family would like to thank the staff at Mount Saint Joseph and Beacon Hospice for the wonderful care given to her during her stay.

Friends and family may visit on Friday November 24 from 4 – 8 pm at Veilleux Funeral Home, 8 Elm Street, Waterville. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday November 25 at 11:00 am at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 26 Monument Street, Winslow. Burial will follow in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery, 78 Grove Street, Waterville. Please visit www.veilleuxfuneralhome.com to share condolences, memories and tributes with her family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her memory to: Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, 101 Silver Street, Waterville, ME 04901.

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The following eulogy was presented by Billy's niece Monique Lucey at her funeral Mass on Saturday November 25 at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Winslow, Maine:

Laurentia Bilodeau: Mamma, Grandmaman, Billie; daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, friend. She grew up during World War II in Canada where she met her husband and gave birth to 6 children before coming to Waterville, Maine in 1955. Her husband suffered a crippling injury the year before they arrived in the US, which altered the course of her life. She was thrust into the workforce without even completing high school and unable to speak English. Grandmaman worked as a nurse’s aide for nearly 30 years. And in 1972 she had saved up enough money to buy her first house.

She loved that little house on Clifford Street. I have many fond memories of spending weeks there in the summer with my family. She scrubbed every inch of that house until her knuckles bled. And of course there were the plastic runners to protect the carpet and towels on the furniture to keep it clean. I will never forget the smell of mothballs in the upstairs bedrooms and in the wool blankets she piled on top of us when she put us to bed.

My brothers and I would spend days in the summer catching frogs and picking rhubarb in their huge garden. Grandmaman would let us dip the rhubarb in her sugar bowl. And she would often make us strawberry rhubarb pie for desert. She kept a colorful ceramic cookie jar filled with cookies for her grand children. But my favorite treat was her famous grapenut pudding or her bread pudding. She was the Queen of custards.

She so loved her family and felt a personal responsibility to provide for everyone. Our entire child hood she went to Canada and would buy her grand children expensive clothes. Often the clothes were too sophisticated and stylish for my own childish tastes, which made it difficult for me to wear the clothes to school. Nevertheless, my mother insisted. My second grade school picture has forever immortalized my Dorothy Hamill haircut and the wool plaid pantsuit, polka-dot necktie and red vest from Grandmaman.

Her generosity didn’t stop with family. No. Grandmaman always took care of the underdog. My mother would tell us the story of a time in Canada when Grandmaman saw a homeless man on the street and she brought him into her house and fed him soup. During her final years at Mount Saint Joseph, Grandmaman ministered to the dying. People who were sick and knew the end was near would often ask her to pray the rosary with them. I think it was her deep faith in God and the opportunity to help others that kept her going as long as she did.

I’m nearly 50 years old and know how blessed I have been to have my grandmother in my life as long as I have. It has been a precious gift to know you grandmaman. Now it is time for you to return to your husband Louis and daughters - baby Marie and Ginette, your parents and brothers and sisters who have gone before you. Grandmaman, may you rest in God’s peace.