Three men and a baby share more than a name

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

This year Richard Caron is to represent baby Jesus in the Brookfields’ Christmas pageant.
Which Richard Caron from St. Joseph Parish in North Brookfield?  
The fourth, of course.
The others who bear that name are too old for the role. Richard Leroy Caron IV turns 6-months-old Dec. 22. His father, Richard Leroy Caron III, is 33; his grandfather, Richard Leroy Caron Jr., is 63, and his great-grandfather, the first Richard Leroy Caron, is 87.  
The baby will be the first of the four Richard Carons to play Jesus in the pageant, being held on Christmas Eve at St. John the Baptist Parish in East Brookfield, said Richard Jr., who has had great-nieces and great-nephews in that role. He said St. Joseph’s had its own Christmas pageant before its religious education program was combined with those of St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in West Brookfield. The parishes now share clergy and religious education coordinators too.  
All four Richard Carons were baptized at St. Joseph’s. Three of them wore the same baptismal garment: Richard IV, baptized on Oct. 15, and his father and grandfather.
“I think that’s why St. Joseph’s is so important,” Richard Jr. said. “Everybody in the family received all their sacraments there.”
“It was a blessing to have Pépère still alive” for the baptism, Richard III said, referring to Richard Sr.’s presence Oct. 15. “We hope Pépère is still alive for Richard V.”  
That would be years from now, and with even four Richard Carons in the family and parish, how do you distinguish them?
The first, Richard Sr. was given a nickname, which he passed on to Richard Jr. 
Richard III lamented: “I was just Richard; I never got a cool nickname.”  
So, Richard IV is going by his middle name – Leroy.
But what’s behind the names?
That’s what Richard Sr. wanted to know. He said he asked his mother, but she didn’t know where she got the name Richard or the name Leroy; she just liked them.  
Richard Sr. and his wife, Marilyn Caron, had four sons and four daughters. Some are named after other family members: Andrew, Richard Leroy and Anthony, for Richard Sr.’s grandfather.  
It was from his grandfather that Richard Sr. got the nickname Pitou (Little One, to French Canadians).
But young Richard wanted to be called Pit.
“I changed it when I went to school,” he recalled. At 87, he’s still called Pit.
He nicknamed his son Richard Jr. Pitou (Pit-2).
“All through school it was Pitou,” said Richard Jr. That’s what his friends heard his parents and siblings calling him. The nuns at St. Joseph Elementary, the parish school he attended from kindergarten through grade 4, called him Richard. But when he moved on to public school the teachers used Pitou, like his friends did.
Years later, Pitou and his wife, Mary Jane Caron, named their only son Richard Leroy. (Their only daughter, Julianne Caron, died in a car accident 16 years ago at age 18.)
Upon seeing her newborn son, Mary Jane said, “He looks just like his father,” and therefore must be named for him. Of course, she admitted, “there was some pressure.” That’s how the family got a third Richard.
The practice continued into the next generation. Richard Jr. said that, when Richard IV was born last June, the baby’s mother, Katelynn Kunst, remarked, “He looks like the rest of you; I guess we’ve got to name him Richard.”  
Richard III said they’ll call him Leroy, which he thinks is a “cool” name.
“Pit, Pitou, Richard [are already taken] so, it has to be something different,” he explained.
Richard Sr. and his wife have 18 great-grandsons and great-granddaughters, but Richard IV is the first of the boys with the last name Caron.
It’s not just a name that the older generations are trying to pass along, however.
Richard Sr. said he’s hoping to pass on the faith – “by going to church,” rarely missing a Sunday. He said his wife “also never misses church.” He still helps take up the collection, having been informed years ago by an older collector that that was a ticket to heaven!
“We’d take up the whole pew,” at St. Joseph’s, said Richard Jr., recalling how his parents sat on either end, with him and his seven siblings in between, when they were younger.
“When I was 20, we had some nuns that were part of our CCD program,” he said. They asked him to help teach and he did.
“It was the Catholic guilt from the nuns,” he quipped. But he got into that form of ministry.
“When I had my kids, I wanted to be their teacher,” and taught one or both of their classes each year, he said. “I’m still doing it.” He taught his nieces and nephews and now teaches confirmation classes to his great nieces and nephews.
Will he teach Richard IV’s class?  
Richard Jr. said he will probably retire before then, but so far hasn’t found a replacement.
For now, there’s the pageant. “I always think the Christmas pageant is good because it gets the kids involved,” he said. “They have all their uniforms on” – the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, the shepherds, angels and kings.
And, of course, baby Jesus.