Cecile’s Obituary On March 9, 2019, Cecile Nadeau Gerry was called to the Lord suddenly and quickly after a massive fatal stroke while at home with her loving family. It was like any other day, she was happy and chatty, eating breakfast and drinking tea on a beautiful bright winter day. She felt great and was enjoying family being home and not at school or work.
She was ambulatory and relatively healthy. On May 20, 1923, Cecile Marie Fernande Celine Nadeau was born to Arthur Nadeau and Imelda Meunier in Iberville, Canada as the fifth child of 10. Her family eventually moved to Highgate Center, VT and purchased a dairy farm during the Great Depression.
Being frugal and recycling were a part of her constitution. She did not like to do housework, so she would run to the apple orchard to read books while eating apples, until she got caught. Age 12, she was injured while jumping onto a pitch fork in the hay barn, which pierced through her thigh.
That injury left its mark but was only an early forecast of her tremendous inner strength. She was active in softball and basketball and loved to go to the school dances. She graduated from Highgate Center, VT at 18 amongst a class of 12.
Cecile joined the new Women’s Army Air Corp to serve during WWII at the age of 21, which had been met with heated resistance from her sister, Clarice and mother, Imelda. In Cecile’s usual stubborn fashion, she was determined to forge her own path. Her dream was to travel while they needed women to join the new military i.e. many men were at war abroad.
She worked in postal services and as an administrative clerk, achieving the rank of E-5 Sgt prior to her separation. She was very proud of her vocabulary, penmanship and typing skills. She made many new friends at Langley Field, VA where she met her handsome husband, William McAdoo Gerry.
In order to marry him, she had to leave the military in 1948. They married quickly on base May 4, 1950 and left for Eglin AFB, FL after her new husband had received orders to ship to the Marshall Islands as a Master Supply SGT for the testing of the hydrogen bomb, as an integral part of the top-secret mission, “The Greenhouse Project”. She spent the next 13 years married to her husband who originally joined the Army 1941-1945 during WWII, but then transferred to the new USAF in 1946.
He was deployed almost every 2 years and she in turn was having a baby while he was home. During that time he also served in the Korean war. In 1958, they were transferred to Chateauroux, France with four children and had two more while they were there until 1963, returning to MacDill AFB, FL in 1963 when her beloved SMSgt Gerry age 44 y/o died suddenly at work of a heart attack due to his service-related exposures.
Despite her unassuming 5-foot, 92 lb. stature (nickname Peewee), she was a resilient, dignified, and reful mother of 6 with the fortitude and confidence of a man twice her size. In the same year of her dear husband’s sudden death, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
She wrote to Jackie Kennedy a heartfelt note of condolence, as she felt they could understand each other’s grief. She received a beautiful letter back with individually signed photos of both Jackie and President Kennedy. In 1965, she moved back to New England to be closer to her siblings, settling in Hinsdale, New Hampshire with her troop of 6, where she encouraged her sons and daughters to embody the values of her military lifestyle, which she loved so dearly.
She stressed the importance of honesty, integrity, and excellence pushing her children to continue a life of learning through faith and education. Most important was being independent, productive, kind people of faith. She was a hard worker, working weekends and weeknight shifts at Hinsdale Raceway as a waitress until the age of 65.
She loved her children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren, and had the wonderful opportunity to watch them grow and branch off in various directions similar to her own beautifully untamed wildflower garden. Her days were filled with laughter, song, dancing, and prayer. We are forever grateful that she blessed our families with so much joy and light.
While in Hinsdale, she was a 4-H leader in sewing, forestry and gardening. She also was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America at St Joseph’s Catholic Church parish in Hinsdale, NH and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post #5 in Brattleboro, VT. Cecile was predeceased by her husband SMSgt William McAdoo Gerry, the love of her life and her favorite dancing partner.
She was predeceased by both of her parents and many of her siblings, Madeline Knisley of Chester, VT, John Nadeau of Highgate Center, VT, Clarice O’Brien of Brattleboro, VT, Gaston Nadeau of Dummerston, VT, Jacques Nadeau of Highgate Center VT, Teresa Sherwin of Georgia, and Bernard Nadeau of Middlebury, VT and grandsons Matthew Nurmi Gerry and Hans Christian Thomave. She is survived by her loving brother Ret. Col Clement Nadeau, US Army of Killeen, TX and her sister Marguerite McDurfee of California.
She is also survived by her daughter, Dr. Sheila Pinette and her son in-law, Dr. Michael Pinette of Cape Elizabeth, Maine and their five children, Melanie, William, Tara, Michaela and Christiana Pinette, with whom she was living at the time of her passing. Also survived by her other five children and their families. Glenn Gerry and his wife Diane of Florida, Debra Rausch of VT and her three children Christine, Erin and Nicholas, Wayne Gerry and his wife Elaine of New Mexico, and their daughters Meghan and Kelcie, Karen Thomhave and her husband Bjarne of Florida and their daughter Kalena and Keith Gerry of Colorado.
May peace, love and joy follow you Pee Wee into the heavens to rest with so many good friends and family who have gone before you. God be with you. She was a communicant Of St Bartholomew’s Parish in Cape Elizabeth at the time of her passing and prior to that Hinsdale, NH St Joseph’s Parish.
We are very appreciative of Fr. Innocent Okozi for getting to know our Mom and for his support and compassion. A special thanks to all of the first responders to our home from the Cape Elizabeth and South Portland Fire and Rescue, and Cape Elizabeth Police Officer Ben Davis and Detective Mark Dorval.
They were all caring, respectful and professional. The wake will be Friday evening 5-8 pm at Hobbs Funeral Home on Cottage Road. She will have a Catholic Mass on Sat, March 16, 2019, 2 pm at St Bartholomew’s parish where she attended mass regularly with the Pinette family.
(SGT) Cecile Nadeau Gerry will have a full Military Burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the Spring, where she will reunite in spirit with her husband, SMSGT William McAdoo Gerry.
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