Paul H. Duchemin
July 7, 1922 to October 12, 2019
GILFORD-----Paul Henry Duchemin, age 97, was born on July 7, 1922 in Haverhill, MA to Wilbrod and Alvina (Beaudry) Duchemin, the youngest of four brothers and two sisters. Unfortunately, Paul lost his mother when he was just seven years old which required his older sisters to assist their father in raising the youngster. Paul was educated in the Haverhill public schools and early in his adolescent life began working in the community as all young boys did to contribute to his family’s income. He was always athletic and loved baseball in his youth. The day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, at the age of 19, Paul enlisted in the Navy to join the war effort and spent the next four years serving on the USS Decatur in the North Atlantic. His time was spent protecting the ships traveling in the shipping lanes between Europe and the US from enemy naval and submarines and later, on the USS Wasatch in the South Pacific, eventually sailing into Tokyo Harbor with the Admiral’s fleet during the occupation of Japan. During his career he attained the rank of Boatswain First Class and sustained a mild hearing loss due to an incident where a ship’s gun was fired near him when he was not prepared with ear protection. In 1945, at the conclusion of World War II, Paul was honorably discharged from the Navy and returned to his hometown. Shortly thereafter, he met Barbara Ann Smith, who was an Air Force trained nursing cadet to whom he proposed and married in 1947 in St. Monica’s Church in Methuen, MA. Paul and Barbara resided in Haverhill, MA where they began raising their family. Paul pursued a career in Haverhill’s shoe industry, learning the art of making shoes, advanced to a foreman in the shoe factories and eventually joined International Shoe Machinery Corporation where he earned the position of Assistant District Manager for the New England area. As his family grew, Paul relocated his family to Groveland, MA where he lived until his retirement. Paul loved to spend his free time in New Hampshire; he and his wife would vacation at Lake Ossipee and the White Mountains and eventually he discovered his love of Lake Winnipesaukee. In 1958 he purchased a small trailer in a place called Lake Shore Park; he loved this location so much that he went on to ask the owners of the park, if he could build a small cottage in the park. In Paul’s usual manner, he built the cottage on his own and situated it angled to look out on his beloved Winnipesaukee along side a swampy stream flowing through the park. Friends, who were camping in the park at the time, thought it was strange that he chose to build on this undesirable location, however, little did they know that the owners had given him a tip that a marina was being planned for that area and his cottage would be in an ideal position. Over the years Paul would continually upgrade his cottage, modernizing it; eventually he decided to sell his home in Groveland, go to Fort Myers, FL in the winters and spend his summers at the cottage in LSP. He loved that his family was able to share his love of the park and the lake. He had a passion for fishing and needed a boat to fish out on the lake so he and his brother built their own boat and Paul would be out on the lake frequently relaxing with a fishing pole in his hand trolling for fish hours upon hours. As time went on, Paul became one of a group of residents of LSP who would join together to purchase the property from the owners and establish a private club, LSP Association as a charter member. Lake Shore Park became his permanent home into retirement where he and his wife would sit overlooking the lake and marina with his friends and family. He remained able to live independently at his cottage until the end of the summer of 2019 after which he resided with his son and daughter-in-law in Manchester, NH.
Paul was a simple, humble man, educated into high school but left school early as life events occurred. He proudly served his country during wartime and once a civilian again he learned a trade. He was very resourceful. He was self-taught. He had a love of carpentry and built his and his brother’s summer cottage, built a boat, and never found anything he couldn’t figure out how to fix. He loved his family; he always found a way to give them a good life, worked hard to help his children pursue their dreams, nurtured his family, would always do what he could to help his family. He never asked for anything for himself. He was a man that his family adored, who they looked up to and sought his knowledge, wisdom, guidance and love. He was a very devoted husband to his loving wife, Barbara.
In his retirement Paul developed a love of golf and would spend time with his brother Ernest and friends on the golf course in New Hampshire and Florida where he would attend many of the PGA tournaments to learn from the professional golfers as he studied their skills.
On Father’s Day, 2017, Paul was honored by the Honor Flight New England organization, who took Paul, along with other war veterans, to Washington, D.C. to honor them for their military service to the Country. As humble of a man that he was he never asked for gratitude for his wartime service, talked little about it and never sought any recognition; however, this was a trip that he never would forget.
Paul was a very religious man, devoted to his Catholic upbringing; he had an unending love of God and stayed faithful to his Jesus every day praying his rosary beads multiple times each day.
On October 11, 2019, Paul was admitted to Parkland Medical Center in Derry, NH complaining of difficulty breathing. He was found to have suffered a major heart attack and bravely fought back to recover however, God had a different plan; a plan that Paul, in his mind accepted.
On October 12, 2019, with Barbara, his beloved 92 year old wife of 72 years, and family at his side Paul passed comfortably into the hands of his Savior willingly and gratefully seeking passage into Eternal Life with his anticipation of meeting Jesus and rest in eternal peace reuniting with his son, Craig and his dog Casey.
He left this world leaving behind family and friends grateful that they had the honor of knowing this incredible man, husband, father, grandfather, uncle and friend.
Survived by his loving wife, Barbara Ann (Smith), his son, Stephen and his wife, Barbara of Highlands Ranch, CO, his son, Bruce and his wife, Cynthia of Manchester, NH and his daughter, Patricia Difeo and her husband, Michael of Haverhill, MA. He was predeceased by his son, Craig of Gilford, NH. He is further survived by 12 adoring grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren several nieces, nephews and many, many friends.
Paul will be laid to rest in the New Hampshire State Veteran’s Cemetery, 110 Daniel Webster Hwy, in Boscawen, New Hampshire 03303 with Navy Military Honors on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 1:00pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to either Lake Shore Park Scholarship program-Lakeshore Park Association, Attn: Al Kirkman, 2600 Lake Shore Road, Gilford NH 03249 or to Honor Flight New England program, PO Box 16287, Hooksett NH 03106.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.