Friday afternoon I traveled to McKenna-Ouellette Funeral Home on Hildreth Street to attend the wakes of Rudolphe “Red” Ouellette and Alfred “Nick” Favreau, two life-long residents of Lowell who were friends throughout their 88 years of life, who died within hours of each other on the same day, and who were waked in adjoining rooms at the same time.

Both Ouellette and Favreau were born in Centralville, graduated from St. Louis School and Lowell High School. Both served in the European Theater during World War II as members of the US Army. Both were wounded in battle. Both returned and spent the rest of their lives making Lowell a better place for all of us. Favreau had a 35 year career at the US Post Office. Amazingly, he never took a single sick day during that entire time. When he retired, he had accumulated 2500 hours of sick time. Ouellette held several jobs, but was best known for his service as a member of Lowell’s board of assessors and as a commissioner of the Commonwealth’s Appellate Tax Board. He was also very active in local Veteran’s organizations and commemorations which is where I got to know him best.

We extend our posthumous thanks to Red Ouellette and Nick Favreau for their service to our country and to our city.