A. Basil LeBlanc, artist, engineer and veteran of World War II, died Thursday, May 27, surrounded by family. He was 96 years old.
Basil was the beloved husband of the late Jeannette (LeBlanc) and son of Anne (Amirault) and Albert LeBlanc. He was born on Oct. 25, 1924, in Amirault’s Hill, Nova Scotia, and remained a true son of Canada his entire life, although he also became a US citizen.
He attended a two-room school house, graduating as the only member of his high school class. In World War II, he served with the Canadian Grenadier Guards as a radioman in a Sherman tank and was wounded in the Battle of the Rhineland. He lost contact with his regiment for 70 years, but serendipity engineered a reunion and he finally received his Wound Stripe in a 2014 ceremony at regimental headquarters in Montreal. He later represented his regiment in France for the centennial of the World War I Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Upon returning from the war, Basil trained as an electrician in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and met his wife, his beloved Jeannette (LeBlanc), while she was on a family visit “down home.” They married in 1954 and initially settled in Amirault’s Hill, where they began the family that grew to five children, six grandchildren and on great-granddaughter. They were married for 64 years when she died in 2018.
While still in Canada, he started a radio repair shop, taught electronics at the Yarmouth County Vocational High School and served as an engineer and officer on the MV Bluenose. In 1960, he moved the family to Franklin, Mass., to pursue a career in electronics, helping to pioneer the development of memory systems in the early days of the computer industry.
He retired as a computer engineer from Honeywell Corp. and went on to build a small business painting and wallpapering home interiors, and restoring art and furniture. For years, he was a fixture at Wrentham Antiques Marketplace, owned by a daughter and son-in-law, where he had a workshop.
As an artist, his favorite subjects were the landscapes, seascapes and people of his Nova Scotia youth, but he also carved birds, butterflies, cars and family dogs. He returned to his source of inspiration most summers, and in retirement enjoyed extended stays with Jeannette in the Abram’s River home where she spent her childhood summers. He lovingly restored the 19th century house, and covered the interior of the barn with fond, painted murals of Acadian village life.
Basil was also active in Franklin, involved with the Franklin Art Association, New England Wood Carvers and the Benjamin Franklin Library. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, he taught carving at the Franklin Senior Center.
A devoted member of St. Mary’s Parish, he restored and painted the church’s Stations of the Cross. He belonged to the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name Society, and volunteered for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Basil leaves his children and their spouses, Anette and Ted Kahn, of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; John and Lenette LeBlanc, of Burrillville, RI; Kathy and Chuck McStay, of Franklin; David and Cynthia LeBlanc, of Leyden, and Barbara and Bob Unger, of Fairhaven, as well as grandchildren Ainsley, Teagan and Avery McStay, Erin LeBlanc, Joshua Shaw and Jonathan LeBlanc Unger; great-granddaughter Bella Shaw, his sister, Pauline Smith, and her son Steven, and other nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends.
Calling hours will be held Wednesday June 9, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Oteri Funeral Home, at 33 Cottage St., Franklin. A funeral mass will be celebrated Thursday, June 10, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church, Franklin, to view the Mass click stmarysfranklin.org Burial to follow at a later date in Nova Scotia.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Joslin Diabetes Clinic, One Joslin Place, Boston, MA 02215 or St. Mary's Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, One Church Square, Franklin, MA 02038.