Richard Bertrand French

SKOWHEGAN – Richard Bertrand French was a loving and caring husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was born May 11, 1927, in Skowhegan, to Goff M. French and Alta P. Ellis of North Anson, where he grew up and graduated from Anson Academy in 1944 one week after his 17th birthday.

He went to the University of Maine in Orono but left school when his father died. He married Elizabeth Corson in September of 1948 in Anson. She passed away in 1975. They had three children, Goff R. French (deceased) who married Linda Handley and lived in Smithfield where Linda still resides, Hugh D. French (deceased) of St. Albans, and daughter, Hope F. Perkins and her husband Phillip P. Perkins of Palermo.

He married Dorothy Wood in 1976 and resided in Winthrop until her death in 2005. Dick is survived by a stepdaughter, who he helped raise and care for, Kathleen Clark Allen of Madison.

He is also survived by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Heather French Hoisington and husband Ben and their children Kaeden and Zoe Green, and Eli and Zoe Hoisington of Brunswick; Darren French and his wife Gillian and their children Jeremy, Lucas, Rhys and Christopher French of Hermon, Colin French of Smithfield, Ceara French Templin and her husband John and their children Abigail, Hannah, and Grace Templin of Smithfield; Matthiew Otis and his wife Katy Berry Otis and children Brianna, Jaiden, and Ryder Otis of Torrington, Conn.

He started working for the Maine State Department of Transportation in 1947 on a survey crew, earned his Registered Professionals Engineers License and worked planning, surveying and building many of the highways and roads in Maine. In the mid ’60s he studied at home in the evenings DOS programing and moved to the computer division of Maine State Transportation. He retired in 1987 as the Director of Computer Services.