HUDSON – H.C. “Mike” Lamoreau, passed away Nov. 20, 2009, at his home, after a short battle with cancer. He was born March 2, 1920, in Castle Hill, the fifth child of Gordon S. and Pearl (Rideout) Lamoreau. Mike has gone to rejoin his beloved Connie, who predeceased him in 2007. Mike was a five-year veteran of World War II, serving in the Pacific Theatre with the 90th Bomb Group, “Jolly Rogers,” as an aerial radar and radio operator in 1942-1943, as a radar navigation and bombing instructor in Florida and Arizona in 1944-1945, and as a radar section chief with the 417 Night Fighter Squadron in Germany in 1946. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, German Army of Occupation Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with four stars, Distinguished Unit Citation Ribbon and crewman’s wings, and a Sharp Shooters Medal with 45-caliber pistol and Marksman Medal with the 30-caliber carbine. Mike returned to the University of Maine in 1947 and earned his Bachelor of Science degree and medical degree. He was a member and president of Theta Chi fraternity and a member of Kappa Delta Pi honor society. He served as secretary of the first Orono Junior Chamber of Commerce. He was an instructor in the veterans on the farm training program at East Corinth Academy from 1949-1952. Mike worked for the USDA, Farmers Home Administration, in many capacities throughout Maine and New England for 28 years before his retirement in 1980 as chief business and industrial loans officer. Soon after retirement, Connie and Mike moved to a farm in Hudson and spent many happy years restoring a big old colonial style home and traveling from Europe to the South Pacific. Mike was active in town affairs, serving as a member and chairman of the comprehensive planning committee, a member of the town scholarship committee, waste management committee and budget committee. He was active in the Republican Party, serving as town chairman for many years and was often a delegate to county committees and state conventions. Mike had been a notary public since 1958. He was very interested in genealogy and his Huguenot ancestry, where Andr? and Suzanne Lamoreaux fled France to England in 1690, and then to Duchess County, N.Y., in the early 1700s. During the American Revolution, the family divided with our line staying with George III. After the war their property was confiscated and they were deported to New Brunswick. They stayed there until our grandfather, Edwin, re-entered the states in the 1890s and settled in Aroostook County. Mike was a member, mc4071-88, of the Empire Loyalist’s Association of Canada. He was a family historian and kept many records on a widely scattered and prolific family. Mike was a former, longtime member of Orono United Methodist Church and had served as a chairman of the board of trustees of the administrative board, chairman of a building campaign committee and chairman of the finance committee. Mike had a great love of Mount Katahdin and the Appalachian Trail, where he spent many happy hours with Connie hiking and camping. He was a member of John Neff’s Appalachian Trail maintenance crew for many years and helped John relocate part of the Appalachian Trail around Jo Mary. He was a member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and a charter member and supporter of Friends of Baxter State Park. Mike belonged to many organizations and held offices in many of them. He was a life member and past commander of American Legion Post No. 88; a life member of Post No. 11761 Veterans’ of Foreign Wars; member and seven times Chef de Gare of Penobscot County Voiture 427 of the 40/8; member of the 90th Bomb Corps Association, the 417 Night Fighters Association, Kenduskeag Lodge No. 137, Scottish Rite Bodies Valley of Bangor and Anah Shriners; life member in the Maine Aviation Historical Society; life member of the University of Maine Alumni Association and member Maine State Society, Washington, D.C. Mike was very interested in scholarships and helping young people with educational achievements. In 1970 Mike was assigned the responsibility of developing a plan for the transfer of rural rehabilitation funds from the USDA to the state of Maine. The final plan provided for scholarships and leadership training funds from the income of the fund. Mike had served on the rural rehabilitation fund committee from the first meeting until the present. He served as director of nursing training programs of the 40/8 for seven years and worked with local nurses training facilitators to award 38 nurses training grants to local students. In addition to Connie, Mike was predeceased by sons, Gordon “Skip” and Michael; sisters, Lois, Marion, Margaret, Lucy and Edna; and brothers, Henry, Charles, Malcolm and Robert. He is survived by sons, Bryan and his wife, Trudy, of Litchfield, and James of Clifton; sister, Elizabeth of Richmond; granddaughters, Nicole of Virginia, Ashley of Orono and Kaylee of Texas; two great-granddaughters, Kendall and Taylor; sisters-in-law, Velva of Pittston and Beverly of Bowdoinham; many loving nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments immediately after the service at Brookings-Smith Family Center, 163 Center St., Bangor. Private interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Orono. Gifts in memory of Mike may be sent to Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, Inc., 654 State St., Bangor, ME 04401 or Shriners Hospitals for Children, care of Anah Shrine Center, P.O. Box 735, Bangor, ME 04402-0735 or a charity of one’s choice. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.Brookings-Smith.com.
HERMAN C. ‘MIKE’ LAMOREAU
