Rudolphe "Red" Ouellette

Rudolphe "Red" Ouellette, 88, died Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at Saints Medical Center from complications leading to Pneumonia. He was the husband of Murielle (Rondeau) Ouellette with whom he had been married for forty one years.
Born in Lowell on April 21, 1922, he was a son of Paul J. and Christine E. (Ducharme) Ouellette.
Red was a graduate of St. Louis Parochial School and Lowell High School.
He was a retired Commissioner of the State Appellate Tax Board, a quasi judicial board, where he presided in hundreds of tax appeals cases throughout the Commonwealth. He also served for two years as the clerk of the appellate tax. He was the former chairman of the Lowell Board of Assessors.
He was a past President of the Middlesex County Assessors Association and a former President and charter member of the Franco American Day Committee for over twenty five years. Red was named the Franco American of the Year in 1976 in the Lowell area.
On the year of our bi-centennial, 1979, France presented him with a large pewter medal with pictures of four American heroes and four French heroes.
Red was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award of Saint Louis School in the year 2000 by the National Catholic Educational Association for helping people in the community, for devotion to his faith and dedication to his Catholic religion. He was elected in the state elections Republican State Committeeman for the first Middlesex district comprising Lowell and surrounding towns. He served for eight years in that office.
In World War II he was drafted in the Army, assigned to the infantry and fought in the campaigns of Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe and the Rhineland. He was twice wounded in action and received the purple heart with an oak leaf cluster. He received the Bronze Star, the good conduct medal, the African Middle Eastern Campaign with four battle stars and the Combat Infantry merit badge.
In July 2000, aboard the aircraft carrier John Kennedy, he received a Diplome Citation from France for having participated in the Normandy Campaign.
He was a member of the Lowell Veterans of Foreign Wars, post 662 for over sixty years.
He was a past commander and life member of the Franco American Veterans of Lowell Post #4. Red was a charter member of the Veterans of Saint Louis and a life member of the national Purple Heart Association.
For many years, Red worked for the Lowell Coca-Cola Company and also operated a small dry cleaning business, Ouellette Cleaners, with his father in the Centralville area.
Red served for four years as a President of Club Lafayette and an officer for twenty years. He was a member of the friends of the Lafayette College and a member and former Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society.
He was a member if D'Youville Men's Club since its founding. He was also a member of the Centralville Social Club and a member of the Lowell Lodge of Elks having served on the Investigation Committee for many years.
He was a long time parishioner of the former St. Louis de France Church and most recently of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Dracut where he attended daily Mass.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Pauline Coffey and Mrs. Lorraine Janowicz, both of Lowell; two brothers, Roger Ouellette and his wife, Madeline of Woburn, Normand Ouellette and his wife, Fleurette of Nashua; a sister-in-law, Aline Morris of Garden Grove, CA; a brother-in-law, Roger Rondeau and his wife, Rita of Dayton, OH; many nieces and nephews.
Red was the brother of the late Rev. Lionel P. Ouellette of the Archdiocese of Boston, Reginald E. Ouellette and Therese Ouellette; a brother-in -law of the late Catherine Ouellette, Humphrey Coffey and Stanley Janowicz.