Bonjour à tous

George L. Beaupré

I was born in MA to Joseph and Marie Cote. I had an older brother Conrad. I do not remember my childhood as we moved when I was about 2 years old. While we were living in Roxbury at, my brother Paul was born. We all attended Kindergarten at the Monroe School on, from there our elementary education was provided at the Julia Ward Howe School.  A family by the name of Connelly lived above us and the Collin's lived below. I can remember Pat Connelly, the father, who worked for the Boston Elevated Railway System and the days when he would provide us with groceries when my father was not working. I can also remember the days when John Connelly would take me to the L Street Beach to go swimming, and how when he was in college my mother used to help him with his French. My Mother was fluent in both English and French as she was once enrolled in a Convent school. There was also Eleanor, Mary and Catherine Connelly.
My sister Rita was born next, followed by Roger and finally Helen was born.

Miss Stroup was my 4th grade teacher and Miss Gormley was the principal while we were attending the Julia Ward Howe School. I can remember being caught shooting paper staples in the auditorium by Miss Gormley, I was punished but I cannot recall what the punishment was. When we graduated from the Howe school, we proceeded to the Lewis Intermediate School on Walnut Street. There was no busing in those days so we traveled to school the only way we knew how, we walked. We attended St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church every Sunday and also attended Sunday School there.
About 1931 we moved, again. The Rogan family lived across the street and as I recall there were quite a few of them. We attended Roxbury Memorial High School for Boys now Boston Technical High School.

Dad was a good machinist who had worked at United Shoe Machinery in Beverly and when we moved to Roxbury, found a position at J.A. Lang & Sons in Boston. He later found a job at the Watertown Arsenal and stayed there until about 1937 when he became employed at Lawson Machine & Tool in Malden. When dad changed jobs we changed locations and moved to Malden. At this time the three oldest had graduated from high school and as few could afford to go to college, we were out working.
I started working at Allen Furniture Co. in Dorchester in January 1937. I was a gopher at that time and did just about anything to help out in the furniture business. I sold, collected, received, delivered, kept the books, and did the correspondence. I was active and enjoyed the work very much, but I did not care for the hours, almost every night until nine, ten or even eleven o'clock including Saturdays. I disliked the hours so much that I joined the National Guard to get a night off from work.

I joined "L" Battery of the 241st Coastal Artillery, which was assigned 12" mortars. My first summer camp at Fort H.G. Wright on Long Island was where I made PFC and was quite proud of this accomplishment. While we were at camp, President Roosevelt signed Presidential Order #8531 which called our unit along with the 211th Coastal Artillery to active Federal Service. The 241st was fortunate enough to be sent to the Harbor Defenses of Boston Harbor. We were assigned to Fort Standish which was on Lovell's Island in the Harbor. We had two 6" Barbette guns and two 3" anti-aircraft guns. Since we had been trained on 12" mortars, we had to learn all about our new guns.

It was fall when we arrived on the island and had to be billeted in tents as there were only two buildings on the island and they were used by the caretaker. Our Commanding Officer was Captain Gilroy F. Linehan, an engineer at General Electric in Lynn. Our stay at Fort Standish was supposed to last for one year, but with world conditions deteriorating, our stay was extended. We became proficient with our new guns and in September of 1941 were moved to Fort Dawes on Deer Island and assigned 155mm guns.

Needless to say when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and war was declared, we were not going to be released from active service. Our next assignment was to protect the mouth of the Merrimac River. The guns could only travel about 7 miles per hour so it took most of the night of December them to our new position on Salisbury Beach. We were billeted in the Police and Fire Stations and also the Hotel which were practically on the beach.

It was a fierce night with the wind blowing very hard as we were digging the entrenchments for our guns on the beach. The wind was blowing so hard that the sand was cutting our faces. The Red Cross furnished us with wool hats that covered our faces. Eventually, we obtained a bulldozer to move the sand for our emplacements and building the Ammunition dumps for our shells.
Moonlight requisition allowed us the materials to build the pits for the storage of powder and shells. Our stay at Salisbury was pleasant and the Army did eventually build barracks for us about 100 yards from the beach. The barracks were supplied with 2 pot bellied stoves but this did not prevent the water in our canteens from freezing. The temperature in the barracks often fell below freezing.

One day, we were asked for volunteers to form a Cadre for a unit going to the Pacific. The 50 volunteers the Army wanted were obtained without any difficulty. I had volunteered but our Battalion Commander, Colonel Sarkis Zartanian, who later became the Commanding General of the Mass. National Guard, said that the only way I could get out of the outfit would be to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS). I was now a Sargent and decided that I would give it a try.

Martin Cohen, Charles Coner, Morton Weinert, Frank and Bill Harrington, Warren "Butch" Smith and myself, all left to become "90 day wonders". With the exception of "Butch" who went into tanks, we all became 2nd Lieutenants in the Anti-Aircraft Corps. I graduated high enough to get my choice of camps and chose Camp Edwards in Falmouth on Cape Cod. I was then assigned to 40mm anti-aircraft unit and soon became a 1st Lieutenant and was assigned my own Platoon. Under the command of Captain Harry S. Gray, a Southerner and a 32nd degree Mason, I was advised that when I was discharged to join the Knights of Columbus. I was at Camp Edwards for quite a while.

Someone upstairs decided that they did not need us as a unit and decided to make some air transportable units which were sorely needed. I was assigned to the 844th Air Transportable Battalion and we wrote the manual for the training of the troops in 40mm Bofors, Air Transportable. Each platoon was assigned 4 40mm guns and 4 quadruple 50 caliber machine guns which was considered a lot of fire power, at the time. Finally, we reached England where we spent a short time at Leek before crossing the Channel and landing in France. We were in France only long enough to assemble our equipment before being re-assigned to the Third Army, where we were to guard General Patton's Headquarters in Luxembourg. Our unit was stationed all around the Third Army's Headquarters and the V bombs would come over nightly. We were fortunate that there were no direct hits on any of our positions nor any war related injuries.

Needless to say, we won the war and we were looking forward to coming home. If you had earned enough points, you got to come home. I as an Officer had enough points but Officers were needed to help in the Administration of Germany. I became the Burgomaster (Mayor) of a town and the Army requested that I stay and be promoted. I had been in since 16 August 1940 and it was now May 1945 and I wanted to come home. When I finally got to come home, I was assigned to the 1st Hospital Unit and was sent to Marseille. While there I obtained a pass, and went to the Follies Bergere alone. I purchase a bottle of wine and enjoyed the show before going back to the camp at Marseille. We left Europe and I was reassigned to Fort Devens in Ayer, MA where I was discharged. I was able to spend Thanksgiving at home in 1945 and my terminal leave carried over to January 1946.

I returned to work at Allen Furniture Co., now located in Roslindale Square and continued to work there until 1976 when the owner, Irvin B. Petkun, sold the business to his son, Andrew. The company relocating to the Needham Industrial Park and in March of 1977, we moved. The building, which had been occupied by General Tire Co., took 3 months to renovate and after we moved and opened our doors, started doing a very good furniture business.

Our first son, George Leo Jr, was born in Boston after we had purchased our home. Audrey, my wife, was working at Allen Furniture Co. while she was carrying George and worked up until the day before George was born. He was a lovely baby and we enjoyed him very much. The big problem was that Audrey was expecting again four months later. Our second son, Gary Lawrence was born. Another five years passed before Audrey conceived again. This time we did it, we finally did it, we had our daughter, Lauren Audrey was born.  Another 7 years were to pass before our Special Child, Gerald Lee was born. "Gerry" was born on a Thanksgiving Day. Audrey was 40 something years young and this was to be the end of our reproductive life. Gerald suffers from Downs Syndrome, a form of Mental Retardation.

All of the children except Gerald, attended the Joyce Kilmer School for Kindergarten before attending Saint Theresa's Elementary School. While attending St. Theresa's, the kids learned to play musical instruments and joined St Theresa's CYO Band. George and Lauren played trumpet and Gary, the saxophone.
Many of our weekends were spent at competitions, Audrey on the bus as a chaperon with Gerry and I in the stands cheering them on. George eventually made 1st trumpet and was asked to play taps at St Joseph's Cemetery, one Memorial Day. Gary earned Drum Major for the Junior Band and was quite cute, even if we were prejudiced. The kids made us proud and even earned 1st place one year.
After completing Elementary School, the boys attended Catholic Memorial High School and Lauren attended St Claire High School in Roslindale.
George graduated and went to work at Mass. Mattress Co. in Dedham, after dropping out after 1 semester at Mass. Bay Community College.

Gary graduated from High School, found a part time job at Allen Furniture Co. before attending Babson College, where he graduated. In July 1971 George changed jobs and went to work at Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. in Boston, where he has been ever since and married Linda T. Mahoney in Rockland, MA. George Leo III was born in nine months later and Melissa Jean four (4) years later. George and Linda were divorced. George then married Norena P. Mac Donald in Dedham, MA.

Gary enjoyed accounting. After completing his 4 years at Babson, he attended Bentley College at night to attain his Masters Degree. Gary married Joanne Cotelissa and lived in Roslindale until they purchased their first home in West Roxbury. They had a daughter and called her Jacqueline. They had a second daughter, Andrea. When Gary finished his studies at Bentley College, he gave his best shot at the C.P.A. Exam., which he passed on the first try. He did so well on this exam that he finished in the top 100 of the country and earned the Elijah Sells Award. Gary then changed jobs and went to work at Price Waterhouse, an internationally known accounting firm.

Lauren married her grade school boy friend, Frank Hannon. Lauren was working for Allen Furniture Co. in Needham and Frank while attending college was employed by Anderson-Little as a salesman. They lived in Norwood for a few years before buying their home in Norfolk, MA.

Frank tired of selling clothing and took a position with Amtrak. Being assigned to South Station in Boston, Frank soon rose to the position of night station manager. Allen Furniture installed a computer to track their retail business to the Data Processing aspect of the business like a fish to water. Needless to say, Lauren rose to become the Data Processing Manager of the store.

Meanwhile, I had decided to retire, and I semi-retired after 46 years with Allen Furniture. I continued to work part-time for the next 5 years before fully retiring. In January of 1987, I decided that I would like to become involved with tracing my roots and started to read up on the subject. I contacted a cousin in Canada who had already been involved with the hobby and he got me off to a good start with my mothers family, the Côté's. He sent to me what I thought was a lot of information, but was actually just a tease. I had my work cut out for me. I have tried to follow the Côté, Beaupré, Sprague and Driscoll Families. Many families that I have contacted have been very helpful, while many have not. I have found many sources of information and the search continues.

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