YARMOUTH, Mass. — Wilfrid A. Cloutier, MD, passed away peacefully in his sleep Monday, March 12, at the age of 96.
Born in Lewiston on Dec. 5, 1921, to Fedora (Bisson) and Amedee Cloutier, Wilfrid attended Saints Peter and Paul Elementary School. He then graduated from the College of Montreal for high school and college. During his years in Montreal, he met the love of his life, Rolande Lanoue. After finishing medical school at Laval University in Montreal, he completed his surgical residency at L’Hotel Dieu Hospital in Quebec City, and at NYU/Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where he was named chief resident and surgical instructor.
Shortly after their wedding in 1949, Wilfrid was called to serve his country as a thoracic surgeon at Tokyo Army Hospital during the Korean War. After two years in Japan, he was honorably discharged as a captain from the U.S. Army.
From 1953 to 1990, Wilfrid practiced surgery in Lewiston at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, caring for thousands of patients in a solo surgical practice. He served as chief of surgery for 13 years. His wife, Rolande, worked alongside him as his office manager for the entirety of his practice.
It is impossible to describe the deep and lasting impact he made on the lives of so many, not only through his surgical skill, but by the compassion and respect he showed to everyone he met. A devout Catholic, he was often quoted as saying, “It was God who cured them. I was just His instrument.”
In May 1998, he and Rolande moved to Cape Cod, living at Kings Way in Yarmouthport, to enjoy a well-deserved retirement and to be closer to several of their children. During the last four years of his life, Wilfrid resided at Mayflower Place Assisted Living in West Yarmouth, where he made many more wonderful friends.
Wilfrid was a lifelong learner, and had a passion for books on all subjects. While busily practicing medicine, he joked that he “just liked to touch the covers.” Through the years, he greatly enjoyed travel around the world, as well as playing tennis and golf.
He was predeceased by his loving wife of 59 years, Rolande Lanoue Cloutier, in 2008, and his sister, Rita Cloutier Dutil, in 2007. He is survived by his seven children: Louise Cloutier of Evanston, Ill., Pauline (Mark) Philie of East Sandwich, Mass., Gisele Cloutier of Reston, Va., Suzanne (Jon) Greene of Cornville, Ariz., Marie Cloutier (Brigham Young) of Leominster, Mass., Lisa (Eric) Brown of Medfield, Mass., and Robert Cloutier of Annapolis, Md.
Nothing in life made him happier than time spent with his family and in particular his eight grandchildren: Michelle (Philie) Thomas, Hannah and George Mayberry, Ryan and Christine Gentes, Elizabeth Diflo, and Griffin and Noah Brown. His first great-grandchild, Gavin Wilfrid Thomas, was born less than 24 hours after Wilfrid’s passing.
Notes of comfort may be made to his family at www.MorrisOConnorBlute.com.
Wilfrid A. Cloutier
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