Claire Y. Gosselin

Claire Yvonne (Juaire) Gosselin – 1929-2023 Claire was born to George (Jewett) Juaire and Yvonne (Bourgeois) Juaire in Attleboro, MA in April of 1929 (right before the “great crash” she would say). Later in life her parents, George and Yvonne, became known to their grandchildren as Pépère and Mémère George, which was started by Claire’s eldest daughter, Diane, who could not pronounce Yvonne, and provided a great source of amusement to all for many years. Claire was one of five siblings – Imelda (Eleanor), Claire, Raymond, Gerard (Jay), and Jeanne. She grew up in Attleboro, attending St. Joseph School where she met her future husband Emile, and where she and Emile met many of the people that they would call friends for the rest of their lives. She graduated from Attleboro High School in 1948. She loved outdoor sports and was an avid roller skater and ice skater, the love of which she passed on to her children. She was very outgoing and liked being busy all the time. In 1951, Claire married the love of her life, Emile Joseph (Gus) Gosselin. They honeymooned in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and this trip instilled in her a love of travelling that stayed with her throughout her life. They settled in North Attleboro on a farm on Payne Road, and then began the happy process of building their life and their family. Claire and Emile had five children – Diane, Denise, Anne, Gerard (Jay), and Stephen. After the birth of their second child, Claire and Emile purchased their forever home in South Attleboro, close to Emile’s parents and their successful family upholstery business. Family was very important to both Claire and Emile, and many weekends and all the holidays were spent in large gatherings of family. Sunday dinners were a common occasion for everyone to get together. The summers were spent at the family’s rustic vacation home down the Cape, which Emile and his father had built. Lots of beach time, boating, fishing, clamming and quahogging were the activities of choice. Chowder and clam cakes always followed, and Ma’s donuts was a staple every Sunday morning following church. Claire and Emile endured a lot of good natured ribbing from his siblings for their occasional evening rides over to the canal to “watch the submarine races”, and the children upstairs were often lulled to sleep to the sounds of the adults laughing and playing cards at the dining room table below them. In 1961, just ten short years later, tragedy struck with the very sudden and unexpected death of Emile. At the very young age of 32, Claire found herself a widow and single mother of five young children, the youngest two, and the oldest only eight. Somehow, through great strength, integrity, determination and love, she was able to pull herself together and become the pillar of strength that she remained for all of us right up to the day of her passing. And she also managed to retain the home that she and Emile had purchased together for their family. She lovingly referred to this home as “her little cracker box that she never wanted to leave”. For her it was a daily reminder of the love that they had shared and the life that they had built. In 1966, Claire began her career as Senior Accounts Clerk with the Attleboro Superintendent of Schools Department, and worked there until retiring in 1994. Her attention to detail and high clerical aptitude earned her the respect of her co-workers. Throughout her years with the school department, she developed many close friendships and remained in contact with them after her retirement. Claire met the challenge of her husband’s death by focusing her loving attention on her family. She made it a priority that her children continue to enjoy their Christmases, Easters, holidays, birthdays, and vacations. Thankfully, Claire had a wonderful loving family of her own who immediately stepped up to provide support for her. Unselfishly, Claire found the strength to provide her children with the much needed day-to-day stability which enabled them to continue to thrive. In later years, when asked by her children how she could ever have made it through such a difficult time, she simply replied “you do what you have to do”. Her approach to life, and to every challenge, was strength, integrity, and the wisdom of leading by example. Claire lived in her home in South Attleboro for almost seventy years, and the family grew with grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her home was always open to all, and some of us lived with her on occasion as life made it necessary. Holidays and birthdays were always special events (both crowded and rowdy), and everyone knew that any visit to the house was going to be a visit filled with love and fun. Claire was a talented seamstress, and spent many hours at the kitchen table sewing clothes for her children and herself. Many Easter outfits and coats, school uniforms and play clothes, and countless dresses for dances, proms, and weddings were made at that little table, and many times we were given the very important job of finding any pins that had managed to escape. She also loved to knit and crochet, and turned to crocheting to rehabilitate her hand following a minor stroke she had in her fifties. All of us were the recipients of the many colorful dishcloths she produced. These have become a treasured keepsake for some of us. Claire loved to travel, both locally and abroad. Some of her favorite trips were along the coast of Maine, to towns such as Bar Harbor, Camden, and Bucksport to name a few, and a frequent destination for she and her sister Eleanor was Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde. She loved her visit to Martha’s Vineyard, and she and Eleanor had a very memorable trip to Moncton, New Brunswick, to visit family and the old family homestead. She often spoke of the delicious food from that region. An Alaskan cruise was one of the highlights of her travels. She spoke many times of the wonder of seeing an eagle in flight over the glaciers. She also saw a very large grizzly bear, luckily from a distance. She travelled to Switzerland with one of her friends from the School Department, which she very much enjoyed and would speak of often. In later years, one of her favorite outings was to the apple orchard every fall for some apple cider and donuts. She also loved to go to the sunflower farm, rows and rows of yellow, which was one of her favorite colors. She was always up for going out to lunch (meatloaf and mashed potatoes, please) and, of course, ice cream from anywhere at any time, especially ginger, her absolute favorite. The love that Claire and Emile had for each other blossomed into five children, twelve grandchildren, and twenty great grandchildren. Claire was Mom to her children and Memes to her grandchildren and great grandchildren (and even LedNems for a while to one of her great grandsons, he thought her name was M&M’s, which he couldn’t pronounce). The young children brought a special joy to her and she would sometimes sit quietly in the corner during our many family get-togethers and listen to all the excitement and lively conversations. On a beautiful, sunny day in late October, and in her home, Claire transitioned from life to death. Her wish had been to live in her home until death, and she succeeded in her wish. Mom, just so you know, this was way too soon, because 94 years with you was just not long enough. We all miss you dearly, but we also know that you and your love for us will live on forever in each of us. Claire is predeceased by her husband Emile and her daughter Diane. Claire is survived by: - Her sister Jeanne (Juaire) McAuliffe and Jeanne’s husband Robert - Her children: Denise (Gosselin) Dogan, Anne (Gosselin) and Roger Wilkins, Jay and Vicki (Holden) Gosselin, and Stephen and Michele (Lambert) Gosselin - Her grandchildren: Jonathan Szpila, Nolyn Gosselin Simoes, Rebecca Slade MacDonald, Kenneth Palin, Jason Desrochers, Darcie Palin Royce, Mikaela Wilkins, Crystil Lee Gosselin-Skoda, Megan Wilkins DiMaio, Sarah Slade, Stephen Gosselin Jr., and Amelia Dogan - Her great grandchildren: Katazina, Tanager and Harrier Szpila; George, Abigail, Emma and James MacDonald; Andi and Blake (Slade) Doray; Kevin Roy II, Conner Simoes and Ashton Duffy; Jared Palin; Darren and Gavin Royce; Robert and Benjamin DiMaio; Alexia Desrochers; Brayden and Lydia Skoda Claire’s funeral will be held on Wednesday beginning at 9:30 a.m. from WILLIAM W. TRIPP Funeral Home, 1008 Newport Ave., Pawtucket, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. in St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church, 18 Baltic St., South Attleboro. Interment will follow in the family lot at St. Stephen Cemetery in Attleboro. TRIPPFUNERALHOME.com

Claire Y. Gosselin

April 18, 1929 - October 26, 2023