Alcide J Clement

ALCIDE JOSEPH CLEMENT, 98, known as “Butch” to his family and close friends, passed on peacefully after a health decline on Saturday, May 5, 2018 at the home he built in Wolcott, CT. He was the loving widower of Rose (Jacques) Clement, with whom he had shared over 65 years of marriage. Alcide was born January 12, 1920, the son of Joseph-Theophile Napoleon and Marie-Louise (Gelinas) Clement, baptized 1/13/1920 as Joseph-Hormisdas Alcide Avila Clement, in St-Boniface de Shawinigan, Comte’ St-Maurice, Province of Quebec, Canada. His parents relocated the family to Millville, MA and then to Waterbury, CT.
In 1939, his parents purchased a farm on Allentown Road, Wolcott, where Butch began working for Bella Mushroom Farm up to his draft into US Army wartime service. Alcide served as a rifleman, scout, and translator for Company G, 275th Infantry Regiment (70th Infantry Division “Trailblazers”) in early 1945 in the Rhineland Campaign on the France-Germany border, before being wounded and evacuated to England and back to the US. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, European Campaign Medal with 2 stars, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Connecticut Wartime Veterans Medal. Following discharge from the Army, Butch resumed working for Bella Farm, followed by employment with TF Butterfield, Inc., Waterbury, as a plastic factory press operator, and finally American Research Company, Farmington, as a fabricator of environmental testing units used in the space program, from which he retired. He was always very industrious and resourceful, harvesting wood on family property to heat his home and maintaining a large vegetable garden for many years, seemingly able to fix anything. Alcide and Rose were devoted to their family, both immediate and extended, and set the epitome of example for their family.
Butch is survived by their six children: Jacqueline (Robert) Evans of Naugatuck; Arlene Clement of Wolcott; Alcide (Karen) Clement Jr of Branford; Louise Clement of Austin, TX; Henry “Michael” (Janice) Clement of Southington; and Cynthia (Douglas) Ross of Forestville, CT. In addition, he is survived by 13 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren who all adored him as “Pepere” and “Great-Pepere”, as well as his special-bond brother, Alphonse Clement, and his sister, Jeanne Wood, both of Wolcott, and many loving nieces and nephews and their families. Seven brothers: George, Leo, Arthur, Ted, Paul, Harry, and Leonel predeceased him. A man of faith, Alcide was a longtime parishioner of St Pius X Church, Wolcott, although predominately worshipped with family at St Matthew Church, Forestville following his wife’s passing in 2009.
Alcide’s family wishes to gratefully acknowledge the warm and compassionate care he received from his caregivers and nurses.
In accordance with his wishes, his funeral mass will be held at St Pius X Church, 517 Woodtick Road, Wolcott on Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 11 AM, followed by interment in Edgewood Cemetery, Wolcott; just preceding the funeral, his family will receive condolences from 9 – 10:30 AM at Woodtick Memorial Funeral Home, 420 Woodtick Road, Wolcott, to which arrangements have been entrusted.
Memorial donations may be directed to Bristol Home Care & Hospice Agency, 222 Main Street, P.O. Box 977, Bristol, CT 06011-0977, or to a charity of the donor’s choice.