Aime Roger Richard Comtois

August 13, 1937 - December 26, 2007

Married: Gertrude Arlene Castonguay         May 11, 1957
Children:
    Janet Arlene            March 31, 1958
    Richard Philippe      March 2, 1961
    Michael Anthony      August 1, 1965
    Nancy Anne            April 23, 1969
    Florence Pauline      May 20, 1971

Grandchildren
    Anthony John         March 6, 1993
    Victoria Alicia         May 24, 1995

• Our Lady of Hope, Springfield, MA
  
• Knights of Columbus
  

In remembrance of our Dearest Dad, Aime Comtois.

Amongst our grief, we feel relieved.  We are relieved that father’s suffering has ended.  He is now in peace.  He is in heaven with God and his spirit is now whole and perfect. Dad’s temporal body is no longer alive but his soul is living eternally sheltered by God’s love. We know our dad is watching over us.  He is with all of our loved ones that have passed before him.  In our dad’s eyes God and his family came first in his life.

            When our Mom met our Dad she knew him by the name Richard which is what his family called him.  Mom gave him Richard’s nickname, Dick (in later years he became Uncle Dick to cousins on our mom’s side).  Mom remembered telephoning him at his parents’ house and asking for Dick.  Meme hung up on her saying that there is no Dick that lives here.  Mom then had to call back and ask for Richard (Dad’s family knew him as Uncle Richard). 

            Dad is remembered as a good husband for 50 years.  Together through the good times and bad their bond of love grew stronger.  Although we all have our differences, we are still one as a family and always will be thanks to Mom and Dad.

            There are many things that we remember about Dad.  One of Mom and Dad’s favorite pastimes was teasing each other.  Dad also never did anything without Mom’s seal of approval to prevent doing anything that Mom would be angry about.  He had a lot of respect for our Mom.  Dad was a very emotional person especially when he tried to express himself about how he felt.  He often welled up with tears which showed us his love ran deep.   

            For as long as we can remember, Dad and Mom ate the same breakfast for many years, toast with peanut butter and Maxwell House coffee.  It was also a ritual that Dad ate lunch and supper at the same time every day.  Supper had to be at 5 o’clock period. If supper was not ready at 5 o’clock, he would be sitting at the table waiting for it.  Of course Mom or the children made supper for Dad and that is what made him happy.

            On the topic of vacation, our Dad always stayed at “Camp Littleton” a.k.a. the backyard.  We had a swimming pool that he took care of. One of our favorite things to do in the pool was to have our Dad flip us up in the air landing in the water.  Dad also did this to the younger kids at the annual picnic held at Lenny and Ellen’s house.  He always enjoyed going to the annual picnics.  Playing Tripoli for pennies was also a game enjoyed at the picnic and holidays. We had vacations with Aunt Jan and Uncle Henry.  They took us on fun camping trips.  We also went to Old Lyme beach for a week one summer back in the 70’s.   Other than that it was Camp Littleton for our Dad.   

            Dad took care of the yard work.  He meticulously cut the hedges, and the grass. Snow-blowed and shoveled the driveway and sidewalk in the winter. He had his own way of doing this and has Mike worked with him, he would have to do it Dads way. Our dad was vary good about helping out our niehbors too, and made sure the fire department didn't have to clean out around the hydrant either. He helped Mom and the kids clean the house on Saturday.

            Dad also had a few sayings that we also wanted to mention.  First if he was watching an actor or comedian who was just awful he would call out “Throw them a fish”. Or when a mystery movie ended badly or not how he would have liked he’d say “That’s like a Hitchcock movie”.  His favorite line during disciplining times when the children were complaining was “The door swings both ways, don’t let it hit you in the butt on your way out”.    

            Dad liked to give advice or supervise projects.  He always gave a helping hand when needed. One memory of Dad is when he got a new car.  Janet and her friend, Teresa were walking home from school when Dad pulled up in his new car trying to pick them up.  They ran the other way all the way home.  They hadn’t recognized Dad’s new car.   He asked them why they ran away.  Janet said that you always tell us not to get into cars with strangers.  They did not realize it was him in the car.  He was also very helpful to Ricky when Ricky was doing his disc jockey gigs.  He helped haul Ricky’s crates of records (you know vinyl albums at that time) and equipment to wherever he needed them even on New Year’s Eve.

            He named his car “Dick’s Cab”.  He always drove his children to wherever they needed to go for school, church or special occasions.  He was always there watching plays and concerts that we were involved in. 

            He also had the best places to hide Easter baskets.  One year we looked for hours for Michael’s Easter basket and he finally told us he hid it in the hamper.  He loved doing that.  He always loved to tease us too.

            After supper Dad used to fall asleep on the couch. He used to say he wasn’t sleeping he was “Just resting his eyes”, another favorite line.  He would talk to us in his sleep if we asked him a question.  Florence or Nancy would ask if they could go over a friend’s house or if a friend could come over and he always answered “Yes” or “Call your mother” but didn’t remember once he woke up.  Michael told him he could get whatever he wanted from Dad when he was asleep and to prove this point Dad gave him his Knights of Columbus keycard while he was sleeping.  When he woke up Dad did not remember the conversation and said that he better not sleep with his wallet. 

            Being in the Knights of Columbus, Dad always took us to the Christmas parties they had for the children.  We saw Santa Claus there and got presents.  One year Michael even won a bicycle.  Christmas was always special at Mom’s and Dad’s house.  We always tried to be together at Christmas.  It was always wonderful family time. 

            One of Dad’s passions was playing the Daily Number.  He had the number 2647 that he played faithfully for years because it never came out. Of course when he decided to decrease the amount of money he played on it, doesn’t the number come out?  2647 came out last year finally winning some money on it.   

            We just wanted to share a couple of trips our father went on these past couple of years.  Florence took Mom and Dad to Niagara Falls.   They were riding a boat called “the Maid of the Mist” under the falls our Dad leaned over to Florence and said it was the best trip he ever had.  Dad went to Canada another time.  They were looking for the Montreal Casino.  At the border Florence noticed one of the guard’s names was Comtois.  The guard was one of Pepe’s distant cousins.  He knew who Dad was and how they were related.  Our Dad thought it was the greatest thing and how small our world really is.   

            In 2005 he went along Nancy’s and Mom’s idea for a surprise visit to Ricky and Rick in Indiana.  Despite the long drive and short visit, Dad enjoyed the visit and survived Fred’s driving with turrets syndrome.  They were pulled over only once.  

Then just this past August he requested to go back to Canada so he could go to Saint Anne de Beaupre Shrine.  He wanted to ask for a miracle because he’d been so ill.  He had a great time in Canada.  It was where he made his peace with God.  He was good physically the entire week.   

            Our time with our Dad has been blessed.  He lives 20 years after his open heart surgery which is rare.  We were able to celebrate Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary. We were blessed he was called home to God on December 26^th.  The best Christmas gift he could have received because in the past few weeks he had been asking God to take him.

            We’re sure that there are many other happy memories not mentioned, but will live on in our hearts as we remember our Dad.  We love you and will miss you Dad but know we will see you real soon. If we need you sooner we only have to look in our hearts where we know you’ll always be!