Andre E. Tanguay

Tewksbury - Rev. André E. Tanguay, OMI, 85, died on Sunday, December 2, 2012, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence, Tewksbury, MA, after a long period of declining health. He was born in Nashua, NH, on September 30, 1927, the son of the late Arthur and Yvonne (Brunette) Tanguay. He was the fifth of eleven children.
Fr. Tanguay was educated in Gardner, MA, and entered the Missionary Oblate Novitiate in Colebrook, NH, on August 1, 1947. His first vows were professed on August 2, 1948. He was ordained to the priesthood on September 19, 1953, by the Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Eric Francis MacKenzie, at Sacred Heart Church in Natick, MA.
Fr. Tanguay was assigned to the Oblate missions in Haiti in October, 1954, and served there for 41 years. While there, he ministered in parishes in Les Coteaux, Mont-Organisé, Capotille, Randel, Les Anglais, and Ouanaminthe. He served as treasurer of the Oblate seminary at Camp-Perrin on two occasions during his tenure. He was District Superior of the South Coast of Haiti from 1964-1970 and served in the same capacity in the North District from 1982-1990. He was Chancellor for the Diocese of Fort-Liberté from June of 1990 to June of 1995. Fr. Tanguay was fluent in English, French and Creole.
Fr. Tanguay returned to the United States in June of 1995 and, after a period of rest, served in a parish in Le Muy, France. He was assigned to the Oblate Foreign Mission House in Lowell, MA, in June of 1996. In 1997 he went to Sacred Heart Parish in Homestead, FL, where he ministered to the Haitian community. He was next assigned to St. John Fisher Parish in West Palm Beach, FL. From November of 2001 to June of 2012 he assisted at St. Joachim Parish in South Miami, FL. Due to failing health, Fr. Tanguay joined the community at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence in June, 2012.
Besides his Oblate family, Fr. Tanguay is survived by four sisters: Sisters Gilberte Tanguay and Cecile Tanguay, of the Presentation of Mary Sisters, Methuen, MA; Fernande Goguen and her husband, Edward, of Chapel Hill, NC; and Denise Agnelli of Gardner, MA. He is also survived by six brothers: Armand of Canandaigua, NY; Leo of Cumberland, RI; Emil and his wife, Barbara, of Gardner, MA; George and his wife, Helene, of Atlanta, GA; Norbert and his wife, Sherrie, of Burlington, CT; and Hervé and his wife, Seranne, of Rehoboth, MA. He also had many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great grandnieces, great grandnephews and cousins in both the United States and Canada.