BIDDEFORD — Laurette L. Cantara, a longtime resident and citizen of Biddeford, died peacefully at the age of 87, on Dec. 31, 2014 at the Seal Rock Skilled Nursing facility in Saco.
Laurette was born in Biddeford on Oct. 15, 1927, to Franco-American parents, Georges and Blanche (Langlois) Blais. Laurette was the oldest of three children.
She attended St. Mary’s School in Biddeford as well as Cathedral School in Portland.
After her parents divorced, she was brought up by Irene and Philippe Boisvert of Saco. She spent many wonderful summers in Camp Ellis, Saco, where her aunt and uncle rented a summer home.
She was introduced to her future husband, Jean Paul Cantara, of Biddeford, through his aunt, Corinne Gregoire, who worked as a seamstress for her aunt and uncle Boisvert, who owned Phil’s Cleaners on Water Street in Biddeford.
Laurette and Jean Paul were married at St. Andre’s Church in Biddeford on May 31, 1945. Together they raised three children, Michael, Jeannine and Debra.
Laurette was an independent and hard-working woman. In addition to working with Jean Paul to raise their three children, and maintaining a warm, welcoming and spotless household, she also worked outside of the home throughout most of her adult life, working as a waitress at the Nutshell Restaurant, a cashier at Ray’s Market, various positions at the WestPoint Pepperell Textile Mill, and as a lunch lady at Biddeford Elementary School.
Throughout her working years, Laurette always made time to bring her children to the lake or beach during the summer, or to take them to various school activities. She was very involved with her children’s’ Parent-Teacher Organization, and was a frequent volunteer for activities sponsored by St. Andre’s Parish.
She loved her three children, and was truly fond of her son-in-law, Robert McKenney, Debra’s husband. She adored her grandsons, Elijah and Nathan McKenney. She always praised her two grandsons as fine young men, intelligent, loving and hard-working.
She was preceded in death by: her husband, Jean Paul, in 2000; her parents, and the aunt and uncle who raised her; and a brother, Roger Blais of Connecticut.
She is survived by: her three children, Michael of Biddeford, Jeannine Belanger of Rochester, New Hampshire and Debra McKenney and her husband Robert of East Waterboro; grandsons, Nathan McKenney and his wife Gina of Portland and Elijah McKenney and his wife Tara, as well as their daughter, Laurette’s cherished great-granddaughter, Leah Catherine McKenney, all of Merrimack, New Hampshire; sister, Monique Boisse and her husband Guy of Lewiston; brother, Ronald Blais and his companion Lillian DeWeever of Portland; her sister-in-law, Yvonne Cantara; many other relatives in Yarmouth and Lewiston; and many nieces and nephews in the Biddeford-Saco area.
Laurette’s family wishes to thank the staff at the Inn at Atlantic Heights in Saco, where Laurette resided for the past three years, for their many acts of kindness, care and support. Also, the family thanks the wonderful and professional health care staff at Seal Rock for the compassionate and comforting caregiver to Laurette in her final days. Finally, the family expresses its profound gratitude to Dr. Arthur M. Scott, as well as his spouse and office manager, Marge Scott, for their attentive, thorough and wonderful care of Laurette for the past 40 years, and in particular, for the help he provided to Laurette over the past two weeks.
Visiting hours will be 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015 at Hope Memorial Chapel, 480 Elm St., Biddeford. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 9 a.m. on Monday at St. Joseph’s Church in Biddeford. Burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery in Biddeford. To share condolences online, visit www.hopememorial.com. Donations in memory of Laurette are recommended to McArthur Public Library, 270 Main St., Biddeford, ME 04005.
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