Adrien Pelletier

Waltham – Rev. Adrien Pelletier, S.M., of Waltham, died June 6, 2017 in Saint Patrick's Manor in Framingham. He was 94.

Fr. Adrien was born in St. Leonard, New Brunswick, Canada on September 9, 1922, a son of the late Salamon and Marie (Gauvin) Pelletier. He was the youngest of eleven children.

After graduating from St. Leonard High School in New Brunswick he emigrated to Boston to find employment and worked as a counterman for Waldorf Systems. As World War II was raging Fr. Adrien was drafted into the Army Air Force where he would serve from 1942 until his discharge in 1946.

Fr. Adrien made his First Profession on September 8, 1951 and was ordained into the priesthood on June 8, 1956 by Bishop MacKenzie at Our Lady of Victories Church in Boston. After three months of training in Washington, D.C., he returned to teach at Van Buren Boys High School in Maine. He was then assigned to St. Charles Parish in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served for three years. His next assignment was as an Associate Pastor at St. Bruno's in Van Buren, just across the river from his boyhood town of St. Leonard.

Fr. Adrien then spent January to June of 1962 in Watch Hill, Rhode Island on his Second Novitiate. Following that he was the Catholic Chaplain at Mass General Hospital in Boston for eight years. Following his hospital work, he was assigned once again to Parish work, serving seven years at St. Joseph's in Haverhill and thirteen years at St. Anne's in Lawrence.

In 1989, Fr. Adrien was assigned as Parochial Vicar a St. Anthony's Parish in Vermont and Chaplain to the VA Hospital. He said, "I loved my work with the Veterans. Working with the sick has been a joy for me, and I love the people of St. Anthony's."

When asked about the highlights of his fifty years as a priest he replied, "My ordination, a Charismatic Conference at Notre Dame University, a 1975 pilgrimage to Rome, my Silver Jubilee, and combination retreat/pilgrimages to both Lourdes and the Holy Land."

In Fr. Adrien's own words, "The priesthood is a wonderful life. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It has its up and downs, just like married life. I've made some mistakes along the way, but I've always tried to be faithful."

He was predeceased by his ten siblings and in addition to his confreres in the Marist Community he is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Family and friends will honor and remember Fr. Pelletier's life by gathering to visit on Friday, June 9, 2017 at 9 a.m. at Saint Patrick's Manor, 863 Central St, Framingham, where his Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will take place in Van Buren, Maine at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to the Marist Mission Office, 27 Isabella Street, Boston, MA 02116.