Donald F. Lapierre1 
M, #45702, b. May 20, 1932, d. Mar 22, 2024
| Father* | William Edward Lapierre1 b. Jul 13, 1899, d. Jul 13, 1980 |
| Mother* | Alice Beatrice Diette1 b. Dec 18, 1901, d. May 18, 1989 |
Chronological Events | ||
| Birth* | May 20, 1932 | Donald F. Lapierre was born on May 20, 1932 at Newport, Orleans County, Vermont, United States .1 |
| He was the son of William Edward Lapierre and Alice Beatrice Diette.1 | ||
| Death* | Mar 22, 2024 | Donald F. Lapierre died on Mar 22, 2024, at age 91 at Vermont, United States.1 |
| Obituary | Mar 24, 2024 | OBITUARY: It is with love and sadness that we announce the passing of Donald F. Lapierre. He passed away just after 2 p.m. on Friday March 22, 2024 after a long illness. Donald was born on May 20, 1932, and grew up in Newport, Vermont. His siblings were Emile "Bill" Lapierre (Annette Butler), Marylin Lapierre (Lloyd Barry) and William J Lapierre (Delores Lemay). His parents were William E Lapierre and Alice B Diette. Growing up, Donald was very active and enterprising, with several newspaper routes, caring for the neighbors (Briggs) horses, and caring for 50 chickens in the family barn. He was also an amateur trapeze artist on rings and bars he had set up in the yard. He made a lot of model airplanes, and he was familiar with all of the military planes of the era. In high school Donald had many jobs and activities. He played football on his school's team. He was a talented drummer, and was active with five different bands, playing for audiences at dance halls and local establishments. He also worked at Wards and Grants (retail stores), and was a projectionist at the local movie theater. When Donald finished high school, his love of planes and flying inspired him to join the U.S. Air Force. He spent four years in the Air Force during the Korean war, stationed in Texas, Africa and the Middle East. He has many wonderful memories of his experiences and travels during these years. After his time in the Air Force, he attended Lyndon Teachers College in Lyndon, Vermont. While he was attending Lyndon Teachers College, the college became Lyndon State College. Since Donald was the shortest student in the class, and the students were arranged by height, he had the honor of being the very first person to graduate from Lyndon State College! He has always been very proud of this! Donald married his lifelong wife, Jacqueline Cloutier in 1959 during his first year of college. While in college he made ends meet with numerous jobs and businesses. He worked in the paint department at Sears, worked on a production line inspecting and packing eggs, and helped to build houses in a housing development for the East Haven Radar Base in East Burke, Vermont. He also owned a coin operated peanut machine route, and a photography studio. During this time, his wife Jackie worked at Saint Johnsbury Trucking as an IBM keypunch operator. In his professional life, Donald was a teacher at the elementary school in Morgan, Vermont for 7 years, and was a U.S. Customs Officer (Canaan, Beecher Falls, and Norton, Vermont, as well as Pittsburg, New Hampshire) from 1970 until he retired in the early 90's. During his time as a U.S. Customs officer, he also worked at the U.S. Customs checkpoint at the Space Research Center in North Troy, Vermont. Some of his hobbies and interests included boating, fishing, bonfires, dancing, reading, world affairs, and the stock market. Donald was one of the founding members of the Border Lion's mens club in Canaan, Vermont and was very active in the club in the seventies and eighties. He was the president of the club for several years, and he ran a successful weekly Bingo game that raised thousands of dollars for the club and for the community. It also must be noted that Donald was born in 1932 during the year of the last total solar eclipse, and he passed during the year of the current total solar eclipse! Donald is survived by Jacqueline, his loving wife of 64 years, and his sons Michael Lapierre (Carlene Perry) and Brian Lapierre (Laura Plourde). He also has a granddaughter, Genevieve Lapierre (Fred Morneau), who lives in Montreal, Quebec, and is expecting Donald's great grandson in August. The Lapierre family would like to offer our deepest gratitude to the Veterans Administration and the Visiting Nurse Association for everything they have done to assist Donald in the last years of his life. A special thank you goes out to Kimberly, Christy P, Christy B, Laurie Ann, Erica, Jean, Linda and Kathryn. Also, thank you to Donald's wife Jackie, who has cared for him around the clock since his stroke in 2006, and thank you to Mike's girlfriend Carlene. The invaluable assistance from everyone named above made it possible for him to live at home until the last few weeks of his life. Thanks must also be given to the Union House Nursing Home in Glover, Vermont for their care in the last few weeks of Donald's life. Plus, our deepest gratitude goes out to the 3rd floor staff at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vermont for their attentive care in the final days of his life. Thank you so much for the outpouring of love, support, thoughts, wishes and prayers from our family and friends. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Memorial plans will be announced at a later date.2 |