Donald “Don” B. FlueryJeffersonville - Our Dad and grandfather, Donald "Don" Boudle Fluery, 85 passed away from cancer peacefully surrounded by his family on August 21, 2009 at the Vermont Respite House in Williston, VT. He was born in Stratford, NH on October 14, 1923, son of the late Arthur Otis Barrows and Alice Evelena (Boudle) Fluery Barrows. Dad was the youngest of nine children.
He was a graduate of North Stratford, NH High School. He attended Technical Vocation School in Texas.
He relocated his young family to Vermont in 1957 to Burlington, and later to Colchester, Cambridge, and most recently, Jeffersonville.
Donald was one of the Greatest Generation, proud of his Army service in WWII under Generals George Patton and Sir Bernard L.
Montgomery. He participated in the landing at Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944 at Utah Beach. He took part in the liberation of several villages including St. Lo. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge. He visited Hitler’s hide out and found a brass doorknob under heaps of picked-over debris. He was a Long Tom gunner. A log of his travels in WWII is titled "Logmeter’s Long Toms," c1940. One of his jobs while in Europe from 1942 to 1945 was Company Clerk and the personal driver for his captain when Dad was not manning the ‘big guns.’ The jeeps in those days were painted green, but in one day, he made and mixed his own colors and painted the first camouflaged jeep!
He worked hard all his life as a self-employed contractor and builder, having built at least 15 homes, many of them in Mallett’s Bay. He also worked for several area lumber companies and Smugglers Notch. He worked hard with passion and integrity. He could invent and build anything in his well-equipped workshop with his superior skills and ingenuity. He was an excellent artist and very good with a rifle. Once he set his mind to do something, he was fully determined to finish the job. He paid minute attention to details. He was a practical man, having been raised during the Great Depression on a small farm. O, how we will remember him doing his crosswords side by side with Ruthie. He was a life member of the VFW and was a 32nd Degree Mason. He was also proud to be descended from Huguenots. Dad had a very warm heart and made friends easily. He was a proud and patriotic American. He retained his N.H. ‘R dropping’ accent to the delight of his family.
He leaves behind his beloved soul-mate Ruth Paulin of Hyde Park and three children: Lana and Brent Jarvis of Colchester, Starr A. Beauvais of Lynn, MA and Locke and Natasha Fluery of Jeffersonville, and Locke's brother Hobart, and sisters Deborah and Jean.
His sister-in-law June Fluery of Stratford, NH; His grandchildren are Laura and Emily Jarvis, Heather Beauvais, Matthew Hughes, Nicholas, Michael, Sarah, and Adam Donald Fluery.
His great-grandchildren are Meagan Jarvis, Tanner Currier, Zoe Alemar, Taylor, Kaitlyn, Deanna and Ashley Hughes, many nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was also predeceased by his daughter Ginger Fluery in June 1975, Locke's sister Rebecca McCaslin in 2008, and his six sisters and two brothers.
We loved him very much (and still do) and will miss him with all our hearts. We will be swapping ‘Grampa’ stories for generations to come.
We would like to extend our deepest thanks to volunteers and staff at the Vermont Respite House for Dad’s tender loving care.
Visiting hours will be held on Monday August 24, 2009 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the A. W. Rich Funeral Home – Fairfax Chapel. A funeral service will be held at the Cambridge United Church in Cambridge on Tuesday August 25, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. with Reverend Craig Bensen officiating. Burial will follow in the family lot in Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington. Memorial contributions may be made to either the Vermont Respite House 99 Allen Brook Lane Williston, VT 05495 the American Cancer Society 55 Day Lane Williston, VT 05495. Arrangements are by John D. Workman, A. W. Rich Funeral Home – Fairfax Chapel, 1176 Main St. Fairfax, VT 05454. We invite you to view Dad’s photo tribute and share your memories by directly visiting
www.awrichfuneralhomes.com.
Taps: "Day is done, gone the sun, From the hills, from the lake, From the skies. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. Go to sleep, peaceful sleep, May the soldier or sailor, God keep. On the land or the deep, Safe in sleep. Love, good night, Must thou go, When the day, And, the night Need thee so? All is well. Speedeth all To their rest. Fades the light; And afar Goeth day, And the stars Shineth bright, Fare thee well; Day has gone, Night is on. Thanks and praise, For our days, ‘Neath the sun, ‘Neath the stars, ‘Neath the sky,’ As we go, This we know, God is nigh."
Union Gen. Daniel Butterfield and Pvt. O.W. Norton, 1862
