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August 27, 2020By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – A large family, a strict principal and 100 years of life didn’t deprive a church custodian of humor – or faith.
That former custodian – Eulysse Allain – with input from family members – shared memories with The Catholic Free Press Aug. 13, in anticipation of his 100th birthday, which he celebrated Aug. 21.
He recalled the time his son was stuck in the closet, and the time a student helper slipped up (or down)!
There was his assertion that he and his wife, Josephine (Arseneau) Allain, prayed a lot – and never fought. That’s through 72 years of marriage, with 10 children, and now 22 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren, according to their oldest child, Jeannita Gaudet, 75.
She said her mother died four years ago at 92 and her father remained at St. Mary Health Care Center, where family members celebrated his birthday – observing coronavirus restrictions.
Following the celebration, his daughter Sister Annette Allain, a Little Sister of the Assumption, posted on Facebook that “he was in good form and was glad to see some of his kids, grandkids and great-grands in a safe-distancing way.”
Sister Annette said in her posting: “When I asked him what was one of his greatest joys in all these years, he paused, then choked up and said, ‘When we got married.’ The bond that existed between my mother and father is one that is eternal. The depth of his loss, already 4 1/2 years, is palpable and certainly shows the depths of his love.”
Mrs. Gaudet said her parents married on July 1, 1944 in New Brunswick, where they grew up.
“The reason we came to the U.S. was that in Canada my father had lost his job … he worked for the Canadian National Railroad,” explained Sister Annette, who was a maternal infant nurse at Pernet Family Health Service in the 1980s. Now coordinator for the Sisters’ U.S. territory, and living in Dorchester, she spoke with
The Catholic Free Press by telephone.
“My father came ahead of time and lived with one of my aunts to … get a job,” Sister Annette said.
That was 1956, Mrs. Gaudet said. In 1957 the family joined him in Worcester, where he worked for Botwinik Brothers machine shop.
HOLY NAME OF JESUS PARISH
Their family belonged to the former Holy Name of Jesus Parish on Illinois Street.
About 1959, taking the parish census, the priest told their mother that Holy Name needed a custodian, Sister Annette said.
“My father went to see him,” she said. “He got the job. He almost single-handedly took care of the rectory, the church, the school … the convent and the grounds. … No matter what was asked of him, he was right there.”
Their father’s care was so meticulous, “you could eat off those floors,” said his daughter Cecilia Pierce.
“That was one of the good places I had to work,” said Mr. Allain, who worked there for 27 years before retiring. “The boss was good,” he said. He tried to recall which priests were there when, and remembered one of the religious sisters who was principal.
“She was rough, even on me!” he said. When a student misbehaved, she would ask him if he’d seen the infraction, and he’d admit that he did.
One “troublemaker” was his son Louis, said Mrs. Pierce. She reminded their father that the nuns would say, “Louis, go see your dad.”
“The teacher put him in the closet” once for punishment, Mr. Allain recalled. “It was OK with him, because there was a lot of chocolate milk in there. Louis was not in a hurry (to get out)!”
Sometimes Mr. Allain gave students part-time jobs. He recalled a high schooler whom he instructed to paint a fence. The boy slipped and got the gallon of paint all over himself.
“He came to me … He was almost crying,” the custodian remembered. “I said, ‘Don’t cry. Go home and clean up and come back. There’s a brand new gallon there.’”
“We were very fortunate that my dad worked at Holy Name,” Mrs. Gaudet said; she and her siblings could catch a ride with him to school.
But their father’s life wasn’t all work.
“You would come from work and say, ‘We’re going to go to the rod and gun club and catch fish for supper,’” Mrs. Pierce reminded him. Her mother packed the Coleman stove and they ate there too.
Mrs. Pierce said their parents bought an RV after retirement. Her father recalled visiting Florida, New Hampshire and Nashville.
Sister Annette called their parents “ordinary people with profound faith that lived just a simple life.”
She said they expected their children to attend Sunday Mass while living at home, didn’t interfere with their choices when they moved out, but prayed for them. If visitors came during the family rosary, they joined in.
BIRTHDAY LETTER from bishop
Mr. Allain received a letter from Bishop McManus congratulating him on his 100th birthday and thanking him for his years of service to Holy Name.
“Your dedication to Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church was a gift to the Church in Worcester and the many faithful Catholics whose lives you enriched by your work there for so many years. I pray the Lord will reward you for your goodness,” it said.
Bishop McManus promised that he would pray for Mr. Allain at Mass on his birthday, “giving thanks for the many blessings which God has bestowed on you and those who have known you the past century.”
Sandy Geller, St. Mary’s activities director, had a family story to tell, recalling “the pride and joy that I see (on Mr. Allain’s face) at Christmas,” when his family gives a concert at the center. “It’s one of the most treasured moments we have here.”
Sister Annette said in her Facebook post that her father’s great sense of humor was still evident on his birthday. “His comment on his Happy Birthday song was: ‘I’ll never get another one like this.’”
– Editor’s note: Eulysse Allain was among 22 area residents interviewed for the book, “Only the Lucky Grow Old: Reflections on Life from Those Over Ninety” by Kristine Fontaine, a physical therapist from Webster, who has “always enjoyed working with the elderly population.”