Rev. Walter Gaudreau, S.M.

Fr. Walter Gaudreau, S.M., a priest in the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers and Brothers), died at Newton Wellesley Hospital on Sunday, June 29, at the age of 89. 

He was born on February 28, 1936 in Methuen, MA, to Amedee and Rose (Ouellette) Gaudreau. He attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in Methuen. He prepared for Marist life and the priesthood at Marist Preparatory Seminary in Bedford, MA, Marist College in Framingham, MA and at Marist College in Washington, DC. 

He made a profession of vows as a Marist on September 8, 1957 and was ordained in Framingham on February 1, 1964. Fr. Walter did most of his priestly ministry in Marist parishes in New England. He was an associate pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Lawrence, MA, St. John the Baptist Parish in Brunswick, ME, and St. Bruno Parish in Van Buren, ME. He later served as pastor at St. John the Baptist and St. Bruno parishes as well as at St. Joseph Parish in Hamlin, ME, St. Anne’s Parish in Lawrence, MA and at St. Theresa’s Parish in Methuen, MA. He ministered as part of a Marist team at Notre Dame de France Church in London, England from 1986 to 1990, serving primarily French speaking parishioners. Fr. Walter began his service to elder Marists at the Marist House in Framingham, MA in 2006 and then at St. Joseph’s Hall on the Stigmatine property in Waltham, MA from 2011 to 2015. This ministry continued while he lived at Our Lady of Victories Church and the Colin House, both on Isabella St. in Boston, from 2015 to his recent illness. In 2016, he became Director of the Marist Foreign Mission Office in Boston. 

He celebrated Mass in recent years at parishes in Ashland and Sudbury, MA and at the Marist Missionary Sisters Convent in Waltham, MA. He continued to serve others faithfully until he became more ill over the past year. His gentle, humble, generous presence was appreciated by his fellow Marists, parishioners and co-workers. He was a man of prayer and was always ready to help others in any way he could. 

Fr. Walter was predeceased by his parents and his brother, Armand (Br. Louis Richard, FMS). 

He is survived by his brother Paul and his wife, Margaret (Morris) Gaudreau of Haverhill, MA, his nieces: Lisa (Gaudreau) Osberg and her husband Michael of Haverhill, MA, Rhonda (Gaudreau) Acevedo and her husband Jose of Salem, MA, and Jaime (Gaudreau) Diaco of Derry, NH, and a nephew, Brian Gaudreau and his wife, Kelly, of Florida. Fr. Walter is also survived by great-nieces and nephews: Amanda Gaudreau, Tyler Lovejoy, Antonio Freitas, Nicholas and Hannah Diaco, and Jared, Brandon, and Jada Gaudreau as well as cousins and great-great nieces and nephews. 

His wake will be held in St. Theresa’s Church, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Methuen, MA on Monday, July 7 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. There will be a wake beginning at 9:00 am on Tuesday, July 8th followed by the funeral Mass at 10:00 a.m. Burial will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Andover, MA. Any memorial donations may be made to the Marist Missions Office, 698 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02215.