• Obiturary – Cheryl’s dad

    Joe Bouvier.

    Joseph Paul Bouvier of Gainesville (FL), formerly of Dunedin, Merrimack (NH), and Biddeford (ME), passed away on December 23rd. He was 86 years old.

    Prior to joining the Army as a young adult – and continuing to this day, family from his youth knew him as Paul Joseph Bouvier… or simply Paul. Friends knew him as Butch. Seeking to escape a nickname and citing a fortuitous mistake on his birth certificate, he went by Joe as an adult. His son-in-law liked to kid him about his multiple personalities. But regardless of the name that came to mind when you saw his face, most knew him as a pretty great guy.

    He was the son of Joseph Urbain Bouvier and Bella Tanguay, and the fourth of five children. He grew up playing sports – dabbling in many and excelling in boxing. He grew up to drive tanks for the Army, machine parts for General Electric, and run restaurants for others… then for himself.

    Although chronic disease took these things from him at an early age, he did not slow down as much as others might. As his daughter grew into the responsibility of looking out for herself, he volunteered his time visiting with people shut-in at area nursing homes. He served as a Eucharistic Minister for the Catholic Church, bringing Communion to those who could not make it to Mass themselves. He volunteered his time with the Knights of Columbus, encouraging a closer relationship with the local church community, and rising to the rank of Grand Knight. Through it all he carried a smile on his face and a touch of Maine in his voice that could be either disarming or a warning, depending on what the situation called for.

    He follows his parents, his brothers Ralph and Henry, his oldest sister Emeline Moreau, and two infant children Joseph and John in death. He leaves behind his wife Annette, his daughter Cheryl Kauffman (John), his sister Irene Bouvier, his sister-in law Maria Bouvier, his two grandchildren Beth and Adam Kauffman, as well as many nephews, nieces, and cousins.

    Services will be held in Gainesville (FL) and Dunedin (FL) on dates to be determined.

  • Obituary

    Kathryn Kauffman of Gainesville, formerly of Dunedin (FL), Billerica, and Lynn (MA), died on November 13th. She follows her husband of more than 50 years, James, who passed in 2021. Among those who remain behind to morn her loss: her son John, her daughters Christine and Lisa, as well as four grandchildren. She was 82 years old. 

    Born Kathryn Conner, she was the child of Wendell and Elizabeth (Knights) Conner. She descends from families with long histories in New England, including passengers on the Mayflower.

    She enjoyed visiting her grandparents in Vermont as a child. She enjoyed the beach and met her future husband on the North Shore of Massachusetts. She loved animals and especially her cats. She loved some even when it was not clear they loved her back. She had a knack for closing her eyes the moment anyone was taking a picture.

    She moved with her young family to Florida in 1979.

    She was a lifelong homemaker and mother, raising three happy children. After finishing with her own, she watched her oldest grandchild during the day until worsening health took its toll.  Although she could seem to many like a quiet person, she never stopped surprising people with her sharp wit.

    Her health problems took over her life much too early, from the turn of the century until she passed.  While this long, final phase of her life was a constant struggle, her children will endeavor to remember her as the woman who could still smile and laugh. They will remember she had the strength to successfully raise a family.  Through it all, her children never doubted that she loved them.

    A private memorial service will be held in the near future.

  • Three Types

    I feel like my father sabotaged me from the grave. I’d gathered the strength to do some sorting of his stuff, discarding things I didn’t think anyone would need – or want.

    An early sign his mind was going – and he was fully aware of it – was an afternoon spent at his condo in Gainesville, maybe four years ago. He gave me a copy of his 1Password vault and more importantly, the master password to open it. There was a time he wouldn’t tell me how much he made for a living (re: my whole life) and now he was giving me the keys to… everything.

    Ever his son, his last Mac sits running in the corner of my living room even today. I’m afraid of throwing it away without going through everything first… despite having multiple/full backups… in multiple locations (because that’s the way I roll).

    Now, if you think there are a lot of things to go through when you’re cleaning out a house filled with a lifetime of memories, think about all the stuff that would accumulate on an engineer’s computer – one who didn’t throw away anything – and carried forward all the data from the last computer when he got a new one.

    By the way, if anyone needs a license/registration number for a version of Quicken that’ll run on MacOS 9 (or earlier), let me know and I’ll hook you up.

    So I was browsing a collection of encrypted financial records (and finding a more permanent place to keep ‘em), when I came across a seemingly lost text file with the name: “Three Types.” What follows is the full text from this file:

    There are only three types of people in the universe:

    Those that can count,
    And those that can’t.

    I love you Dad. I miss you.