Alphonse-Félix Auclair
"The Auclair Family Journey, 1666-2005"
Compiled by Nancy Auclair,(#245) droit d'auteur 2005
Alphonse Felix Auclair was born in Woonsocket, RI on November 9, 1924 the oldest of four children. He dropped out of high school in 1942 to join the United States Marine Corps. He served with the 3rd Marine Corps during World War II and fought in several battles in the Pacific. He is a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima. After serving for three years during the war, he returned to Woonsocket where he married Lucille Menard in 1946 and raised five children.
He was a member of the Woonsocket Police Department from 1952 to 1977 and was co-chairman of the committee to create the FOP Monument-Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #9 at Cumberland Street, Cumberland Hill Road and Hamlet Avenue which was dedicated in 1963. In 1962 while he was still a police officer, he owned and operated Auclair's Home Appliances on Cass Avenue in Woonsocket. This business was liquidated in 2002. Al served as Senator representing the 32nd Senatorial District from 1979 to 1984. On July 14, 1992 the intersection of Elm, Social and East School Streets was named the Alphonse F. Auclair Square to honor his many years of civic duty to the community.
Al was active in Veterans Affairs throughout his civilian life and is one of the founders of the St. omega replica Joseph's Veterans Association in Woonsocket. He is the only founding member who is still alive in 2005. He served as Commander of the Association from 1961 to 1962 and was co-chairman of the committee to erect the Veterans Monument at St. Joseph's Church in 1961. He organized a parade to support the soldiers of the United States of America in Vietnam on December 3, 1967 and organized the 50th Anniversary Remembrance of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1991 and the 50th Anniversary Celebration honoring local participants of the Normandy Invasion in 1994. In 1992 he received the Citizens Service Medal from the City of Woonsocket for his efforts in solving the Doreen Picard murder case. In 1995, he received the Veterans of the Year award from the United Veteran Council and in that same year he received the "Citizen of the Year" award from the Woonsocket Kiwanis club. He was chairman of the committee which was instrumental in having Route 99 in Lincoln-Cumberland named the "Iwo Jima Memorial Highway" and in 1999 he was co-chairman of the committee to erect a monument in honor of the late Aram J. Pothier, the first French-Canadian Governor of Rhode Island. The monument is located at the entrance of the Museum of Work and Culture. Al, along with others, was on the committee to erect the Vietnam Memorial Monument on Worrall and Clinton Streets in Woonsocket.
Al is a permanent member of Representative Patrick Kennedy's veteran's advisory board. In 1999, he located and brought to Woonsocket the RI Merci Boxcar which was part of the Merci Train of 1949. This boxcar was part of a train that was used during both World War I and World War II in France to bring troops to the front lines. It was restored by high school students and is now on display in the Museum of Work & Culture. He was on the committee of Operation Recognition which is a program to award high school diplomas to World War II veterans who had not completed their education due to entering military service during the war and in 2000 he helped 150 veterans, including himself, to get the Woonsocket High School diplomas they had sacrificed in order to fight in World War II. He helped persuade the Army to decommission two World War II Howitzers from surplus in 2001 so they could be used as permanent exhibits at the entrance to World War II Veterans Memorial State Park.
Al was widowed in 1984. He married again in 1987 to Jacqueline Gauthier, widow of Roland Cournoyer and daughter of Alias Gauthier and Marie Albertine Crepeau. Jackie is an avid supporter of veteran's causes, as well, and together they also support the American-French Genealogical Society, of which Al was a member of the Building Committee in 2000-2001.
In October, 2002 Al received a telephone call from Representative Patrick Kennedy's office telling him the U.S. Post Office building in Woonsocket was going to be named the Alphonse F. Auclair United States Post Office Building. Al believed that it was a hoax until another person from Kennedy's office, who Al knew well, also telephoned with the same message. The legislation, which Kennedy first introduced in January 2001, was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Wednesday, October 30, 2002 "so it's official," Kennedy said. During the dedication ceremony on October 31, 2002 in front of the post office building, Kennedy stated that "He epitomizes the humility of our nation's veterans. This is a person like many, many other veterans who go about their lives with quiet dignity asking for nothing in return." Representative Kennedy also stated that Al was "very well-known for his interaction with the community" and that "I couldn't be more honored to announce this dedication today. Al Auclair has given his life to the service of our country through the military, government and advocacy. I'm pleased we are able to honor him and proud to have played a role in establishing his legacy through the naming of this building." And, then Representative Kennedy presented Al with a framed copy of legislation rededicating 127 Social St. as the "Alphonse F. Auclair Post Office Building" to the applause of the many people who had attended the ceremony.
Al is very proud of his French-Canadian ancestry, as well he should be, and his descendants can be very proud of their ancestor, Alphonse Felix Auclair.
