.
.
|
GUY ROULEAU
1937-2002
.....Guy Rouleau was President of the Association of
Rouleau Families of America from December 5, 1992 until August
31 1996. It is therefore with great sadness that we learned of
his death on April 24th last. We knew that his poor health made
his life difficult over the past few years and that he himself
did not foresee surviving very long, however, his departure has
left all those who knew him with the sentiment that his life
had ended much too soon and that the loss of such a friend and
colleague would be very difficult for his family, for his loved
ones, and for all of us who knew him.
......For all those who did not have
the opportunity of knowing him personally, let me tell you about
him. Guy was born at Magog, in the Eastern Townships on December
28 1937. He was the son of Arthur Rouleau and Annette Lizotte.
His primary schooling took place in Magog and he then attended
high school at Saint Charles Borromee Seminary in Sherbrooke.
In 1957, he was part of a communications and long distance inspection
team at Bell Canada. In 1969, he became an electronics technician
and earned the title of Associate Engineer.
......He quickly became an important asset to the company
when, attached to the Ottawa office of Bell Northern Research
laboratories, he devised an automated communications system and
a new method of automated inspections which resulted in a substantial
savings in time and energy and allowed for a more timely production
of reports. He came to be seen as an expert in the field who
possessed the technical knowledge and skills to realize immense
improvements in the efficiency of such operations and his expertise
was soon in demand by other companies in the industry. He traveled
to North Carolina and then California in that capacity.
......Subsequently, while on assignment in Toronto, he
became ill and required coronary bypass surgery. After recovering,
he was soon called upon to dispense his knowledge and skills
in Paris. After starting this project alone, he left after a
few years in charge of a team of more than 150. Diminished by
illness, he elected to retire at the age of 53.
......While he was working in Paris, we called upon him
to help us obtain our own armories, which he accomplished brilliantly.
Upon his return to Canada, we called upon him once again, this
time to accept the presidency of our Association and to produce
a genealogical dictionary that we had been hoping to provide
to our members for a number of years. Guy agreed to take on the
job on one condition: that we would give him full cooperation
with the projects that he would lay out. In return, he guaranteed
us the that the genealogy of the Rouleau families would be complete
in only 14 months, using a computer program that he himself had
created. With the precious help of his wife Suzanne, and with
the participation of the majority of the members of the Board
of Directors, he accomplished what till then had seemed impossible:
the publication of our first book containing a list of more than
5,000 marriages of Rouleau's in America. He was also instrumental
in establishing an action plan for the Association containing
eight primary goals that he had elaborated as follows:
1. Make the Association
of Rouleau Families of America a tri-family organization.
2. Revitalize/restructure the newsletter.
3. Complete a census of the Rouleau Families of America.
4. Attain one thousand members in the Association.
5. Travel to the land of our ancestors.
6. Provide each member with his Family Tree.
7. Publish the genealogy of the Rouleau Families of America.
8. Organize a single special reunion under the theme of "
Our Roots ".
Only item 4. was not achieved,
which nevertheless represented a remarkable level of achievement.
......In summary, Guy was always a driving force and
especially a builder. He had first of all developed an exceptional
personality, together with a solid knowledge base and an unswerving
determination. Suzanne and he then built a relationship where
love and mutual respect were omnipresent. They next took care
to create a family in their image. In their daughter Hélène
and their sons Guy Jr and Paul, Suzanne and Guy instilled the
same values that had guided their own lives. Guy's philosophy
was the following: In life, one must always have projects, goals
to attain and results to achieve. In closing, Guy had an extremely
successful professional life, building one success after success
wherever he worked.
......Guy was giant, in his own way, and his successes
are testimony of this. He was a dynamo that allowed us to accomplish
a substantial amount of work to the benefit of the Association
of Rouleau Families of America. He was also a warm and generous
man. His departure leaves a great void.
Claude
Rouleau, Laval, QC
Translated
by: Robert J. Mills, Brossard, QC
|
..
|
|