FORT KENT – Claire Therese Allard Martin, 78, died of multiple sclerosis Dec. 11, 2012, after a brief stay at the local hospital in the presence of her son and her husband. In the past five years she was a resident at local health care facilities. Claire was born Aug. 8, 1934, in West Warwick, R.I., the fourth child of Albini Allard and Lina Boudreau Allard, both deceased.
Claire had an unusual life. At a tender age of 16 she left home in Rhode Island after completing two years of high school to enter the Franciscan order of nuns, Les Petites Franciscaines de Marie, located in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. She remained with the order for 19 years before realizing she had another calling in life. While assigned to the parish convent in Fort Kent she received a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. After completing her degree she studied theology one summer at Providence College in Rhode Island and later at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., the next summer. She taught elementary school two years in Auburn and then 31 years in Fort Kent where she made many friends and earned the admiration of many students to this day. Before her retirement she taught biological sciences to seventh graders. Some of them still recall with delight specific lesson plans she taught. In that period spanning several years she developed a special relationship with many of her students on many winter weekends while ice skating at a local rink. Claire also gave dancing lessons at school during extra-curricular time. She and her husband, Rosaire, married Feb. 20, 1971, and took dancing lessons themselves in ballroom dancing for several years ongoing. Additionally, she enjoyed playing piano, bird watching, tending her flower garden, and skiing with her son, Ryan. After her retirement, she became a Eucharistic minister, a cantor in her parish and an assistant to Father Alphee Marquis in his duties as hospital chaplain at Northern Maine Medical Center.
Among her relatives, in addition to her husband, Rosaire, are her son, Ryan and his wife, Jennifer, and grandchildren, Michael, Jacob and Brandon, all of Cadiz, Ohio; sisters, Rita and her late husband, Budge Rainhardt, of Warwick, R.I., and Noella and husband, Edmund Salas, of Ocala, Fla.; and brothers, Clement Allard and wife, Lena, of Chicopee Falls, Mass., and the late Richard Allard, husband of Jeannie Allard, of Foster City, Calif. Additionally, Claire had a stepfather, the late Leo Yates, who married her mother after her dad, Albini, died when Claire was only 4 years old. From this marriage Claire has a half sister Janet and her husband, Larry Gagnon; and half brother, the late Roger Yates. Rosaire wishes to extend his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported and gave Claire encouragement during her lifetime. Claire was the love of his life even throughout her final years of illness when she could no longer vocalize intelligibly.
Visiting hours will take place 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, and noon-1:30 p.m. Friday at Daigle Funeral Home, Fort Kent. A funeral Mass will be held 2 p.m. Friday at St. Louis Catholic Church. For those who wish to donate in Claire’s memory, envelopes will be available at the funeral home and church rectory for St. John Vianney Renovation Fund.
Claire Therese Allard Martin
