CHELMSFORD, Mass. and HAMPDEN – Louis Leroy Hannaford, 78, of Chelmsford, Mass., a retired grocery store executive who founded the “Nite-Owl” chain and also was an active leader in civic organizations, died Sept. 15, at Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell, Mass. He was the husband of Jeannette (Allard) Hannaford, to whom he was married for 57 years. He was born in Chelmsford, Mass., July 30, 1925, a son of the late L. Leroy and Eliza H. Hannaford. He spent many years in the historic turnpike house on Golden Cove Road. He graduated from Chelmsford High School. Mr. Hannaford attended Boston University, after his discharge from the navy. He served n World War II aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Earle. Mr. Hannaford joined the regional supermarket chain Purity Supreme in 1947, eventually becoming vice president of operations in 1968. Then in 1971, he founded and managed L’il Peach Convenience Stores. He bought and expanded the Nite Owl convenience stores in the Bangor area after relocating to Maine in 1979. Mr. Hannaford was a member of many business, civic and religious organizations in both Maine and Massachusetts. He was a board member of the National Association of Convenience Stores, a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, and an Honorary life-time member of the Chelmsford Rotary. He was instrumental in the construction of the McCarthy Middle School and served on the Planing Board in Chelmsford in the 1970s, overseeing an era of growth in the town. a lifelong altruist, Mr. Hannaford was active in his local Church of Chelmsford and Hampden, the JayCee’s of Greater Lowell, the Salvation Army and the United way of both Greater Lowell and Greater Bangor. In the 1970s, he managed the band, “The Inner Circle.” In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters and sons-in-law, Sandra Bernor and her husband, Dana, of Lowell, Mass., Janet Mitchell and her husband Herb, of Chelmsford, Mass., and Lisa Brem and her husband, Jeffrey, of Chelmsford; two sons and daughters-in-law, Jeffrey Hannaford and his wife, Christine Chisholm of Tyngsboro and Michael Hannaford and his wife, Kim, of Marietta, Ga.; 11 grandchildren, Steven, Peter and Joseph Bernor, Lauren Hannaford, Amanda, Julia, and Sarah Brem, Kaitlin Mitchell, Rachael, Tyler and Madison Hannaford; and a great-granddaughter, Danielle Bernor. He was also the brother of the late Marguerite Brown of Chelmsford, and Frank Hannaford of Carlisle.
LOUIS LEROY HANNAFORD
