BIDDEFORD — Brother Robert E. Ruel, S.C., 83, of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Provincial House, Pascoag, Rhaode Island, died April 13, 2015 at Overlook Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Pascoag.

Born in Biddeford, he was the son of the late Elzéar and Marie Anne (Bedard) Ruel. He was also known as Brother Clarence, returning to his baptismal name in 1964.

Brother Robert entered the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at Winthrop in August 1947. He pronounced his first vows at Ancienne Lorette, Quebec in 1950, and his perpetual vows at Mount St. Charles Academy, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1956. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, in 1954 after having completed a Teaching Certificate from the University of Montreal.

Brother Robert began teaching in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1954, at Precious Blood Grammar School, commonly known as “Le Petit Collége de Hamlet.” In February 1956, he went to Sacred Heart School in Sharon, Massachusetts. A lifelong missionary vocation in Lesotho (Basutoland) began in 1956 and continued until 2014, where Brother Robert was a teacher, a school principal/headmaster, treasurer in schools and for the religious community, and the regional superior for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Lesotho from 1978-1984. Brother Robert returned to the United States in November 2014 due to illness.

Brother Robert is survived by: his sister, Laurette Dube of Biddeford, and her children, Carol Nightingale, Joan Jones, Linda and her husband Dan St. Ours, Roger and his wife Shelly Dube, and Norman Dube; and his sister, Jeannette Jalbert and her husband Fernand, and their son Jay and his wife Kathy Jalbert.

The wake will be held at the Provincial House, 685 Steere Farm Road, Pascoag, RI, Saturday, April 18 at 9 a.m., followed by the Mass of Christian Burial in the Chapel of the Provincial House at 10:30 a.m.

Burial will be in the Brothers’ Cemetery in Pascoag.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Brother Robert’s memory can be made to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart African Mission Fund, Business Office, Brothers of the Sacred Heart, 685 Steere Farm Road, Pascoag, RI 02859.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Brown Funeral Home, 1496 Victory Highway, Oakland, RI.

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