COURTESY
CLAREMONT — Yvette M. (Desrosiers) Bowles of Prospect Street in Claremont died at Valley Regional Hospital with her husband by her side on Sept. 12, 2018.
Yvette was a longtime fighter of the insidious Alzheimer’s.
Yvette was born on July 24, 1938, the daughter of Lorette and Isadore Desrosiers in Nashua. They moved to Claremont when she was 3 years old. She attended the St Mary’s grade and high school, graduating in 1956. She was a cheerleader and piano player for various activities.
A lot of her growing-up years were spent on a large family farm in Canada, run by two bachelor uncles and an old-maid aunt. Thus, Yvette and her brother “Mo” became their “spoiled” pseudo children. They had their jobs, including milking their “own” cows and haying the fields.
She worked part-time jobs including Woolworths Five & Dime Store, popcorn girl at Magnet Theater, Welch Trucking, Joy Manufacturing, and the Ben Mere Inn in Sunapee. When her husbands work in navigation and gravity took them to live in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod in 1978, she took a job in accounting and reception for three years with the WCIB Radio Station owned by high school classmate Ken Patch.
She met her future husband, who was only five days removed from the U.S. Army Signal Corps on May 28, 1955 at the entrance of Woolworth store in Claremont. They married on Aug. 31, 1957 and had two sons, Robert Jesse and Daniel Zachary, who remember her as a great mom, wife, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, mother-in-law, friend, supporter, caretaker, confidant, and beautiful human being. They both proclaim “A’ La Prochaine, Mom.”
Yvette was an accomplished piano player from an early age, and at 14, performed Maliguena from memory at the Claremont Opera House in her first recital. She could play anything for which song sheets were available. Many a house gathering included a gang around Yvette at her special piano as she provided the music that everyone could sing to. Later, she became accomplished with her Radio Shack electronic organ.
Her other specialties included all kinds of cooking. Her collection of cookbooks was extensive. She got her start in cooking from her grandmother and aunts in Canada. Farming was hard work and good eating was important. She loved traveling with her husband, chasing American history that occurred during the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars throughout Vermont, New York and Québec, Canada. Occasional trips to the casinos were great fun for her because she had the “Luck”; she was most always a winner, which covered her husband, who most always a loser. She also was a lover of the fall fairs where her husband Robert chased all the trotters (harness racing), while she surveyed the farm animals. She was a collector of dolls from Franklin Mint and Italy, Spain, Greece and Japan or anywhere Robert’s ocean-surveying jobs took him. And her extensive list of interests goes on.
She loved family gatherings, and they were frequent during her husbands commuting years from Washington, D.C. to Claremont from 1972-1976. Family, including her Canadian relatives, and friends would be frequent visitors to their new home on Prospect Street. Yvette would often be cooking for up to 20 people. She was a very caring person. During the final years of her Canadian family’s lives, she would take a car, bus or train to Canada nearly every month to provide all the help and caring that only a loving “daughter” would provide. She was a niece but more like a daughter. One uncle, Adelard, provided her with a father figure. Her dad had left when she was 4 years old. She also provided considerable assistance for her mother-in-law and father-in-law during their final years.
She is survived by her devoted husband Robert; two sons, Robert and wife Mary of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Daniel of Wilmot; sisters-in-law, Carolyn and husband Doug LeBlanc of Claremont, Cherie Durgin of Sanbornton, and Phyllis McKown and husband Jim of Independence, Missouri; brother Mo Desrosiers and his wife Clair of Dover; and also many cousins, nephews and nieces in both the U.S. and Canada.
Visiting hours will be held at the Stringer Funeral Home, 146 Broad Street in Claremont on Friday, September 21st from 6 to 8 p.m.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held in St. Mary Church in Claremont on Saturday morning Sept. 22 at 11 a.m. with V.G. Rev. Shawn Therrien officiating. Burial will follow in Mountain View Cemetery.
Anyone desiring to make donations in memory of this incredible lady, should send them to Alzheimer’s research.
To view an online memorial or send a private message of condolence, visit www.stringerfh.com.
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