Claremont
Outgoing, engaging, dependable and always up for some good conversation, Bissonnette was befriended by countless people in all walks of life as he discovered and pursued his interests that included a local charitable organization, auto racing at the Claremont Speedway and much more.
“My brother just really loved to talk to just about anyone,” said his brother, Gary, a retired professor at West Virginia University. “He would strike up conversations with anyone he met. And he knew so many people.”
And those conversations or chance meetings often became lasting friendships.
A regular visitor to the fire department, where at one time he knew all the members, and a committed Stevens High School sports fan and lover of the school’s band, Bissonnette made friends easily.
“He was just a really good guy, always well-meaning,” said retired fire department Chief Rick Bergeron, who knew Bissonnette throughout his 46 years with the department. “He was always friendly and interested in the fire department.”
Bissonnette would frequently show up when the department responded to a box alarm, then follow the crew back to the station to chat, Bergeron said.
Those who got to know Bissonnette during his life summed up their recollections of him much the same way as Bergeron.
“Randy was quite a man. He was well-known and well-liked, and everybody watched out for him,” said Dave Kinson.
Kinson knew Bissonnette’s parents, who worked in a local bank, and he promised to help their son, who had a learning disability, when they were no longer around. Bissonnette’s father, Romas died in 1985 and his mother, Millicent, about 10 years later.
Because his brother was unable to live on his own, Gary suggested Rand come live in West Virginia with him, but said he was not interested.
“He said he couldn’t leave all his friends,” Gary recalled.
His second cousin, Cherie Ryan, said that reaction reveals his love and devotion to his hometown
“He belonged up here. His heart and soul was in Claremont,” Ryan said.
It was not long after Bissonnette’s mother passed away that Kinson brought him into the Claremont chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a charitable organization with offices in downtown.
Bissonnette, as he had in other situations, became a dedicated member, rising to the rank of warden.
“He was very active, and very dependable,” Kinson said. “He was a very devoted Odd Fellow and came to every meeting. He was always willing to lend a hand.”
Kinson said he was not just someone who sat around but instead wanted to help and do whatever task assigned to him. As a warden, he dutifully handled the collection at every meeting for what was called the “penny sale.”
Bissonnette, who died in a nursing home in Whitefield, N.H., at the age of 74 on Jan. 22, grew up on Eastman Street with his brother who was a few years younger. He attended the former North Street School and when diagnosed with a learning disability, was placed in a different educational environment as he moved through later school years.
His second cousin, Ryan, remembered sharing holidays with the Bissonnettes and also Rand’s love of the Stevens High band and its members.
“He loved to march with the band in parades and he really loved the kids,” Ryan said. “He was great with my sons and would always ask how they were doing. He was really outgoing and just wanted to be around people.”
Gary is not sure how the friendship with the Stevens band director at the time, Al Gader, came about but would not be surprised to learn that Rand initiated it.
“My brother loved music, maybe because my dad was a musician when he was younger,” Gary said. “He went to all concerts in Broad Street Park and if there was a parade, he had to be there.”
Gary recalls receiving photos of his brother proudly marching alongside the band in parades downtown.
While he never held a steady job, Bissonnette was nevertheless known as a hard worker and someone eager to pitch in, without being asked.
“I always saw him around helping out whether it was in the parks helping to park cars, lining up the alumni parades, and helping out with the Stevens band,” said Wayne McElreavy, who grew up near the Bissonnettes. “From early childhood to well into my adult life, one constant was that Rand was always lending a helping hand. We called him ‘Handy Randy,’ because he was always somewhere helping others.”
When his cousin Ryan was getting married, Bissonnette wanted to do something to help with the preparations.
“My dad drove him over to Ascutney to the hall and he helped set up the chairs. You could ask him to do anything and he would do it,” Ryan said.
Bergeron said when the fire department association parked cars at the Cornish Fair as a fundraiser; Bissonnette was there to help as he did when they would collect old newspapers.
“Randy wanted to be involved and he always wanted to help,” said Bergeron, who chuckles when recalling that Bissonnette, nine years his senior, often called him by his childhood name, “Ricky” even after he became chief.
Bissonnette was a constant presence at Stevens’ athletic events and parades, including the annual alumni parade, where he would help with the preparations and also marched.
Another one of his great loves for auto racing and was a regular spectator at the speedway on Thrasher Road. That is until the racing team of Ernie Boudreau invited Bissonnette down to the pits and another enduring friendship was born.
“I knew Randy a long, long time,” said Boudreau. “He hung around our race team and was always outgoing and friendly with everybody.”
Though he could not work on the cars, Bissonnette helped out in other ways, such as bringing the lineup card to the crew.
It was not just in Claremont that Bissonnette joined the team. He rode with Boudreau to tracks all over the region.
“It was usually him and I in the truck riding to the races,” Boudreau said. “He loved to talk about the race and how we did. Randy was just a great guy.”
After their mother died, Gary said his brother tried living on his own in a couple of places but it did not work out and he lived with foster families for about 15 years before going into a nursing home the last few years of his life.
For several years, he would make the trip to West Virginia to see his brother for a week, often at homecoming at West Virginia University.
“Rand really enjoyed coming down here,” said Gary.
Though limited in abilities that many take for granted, Bissonnette carried himself with a cheerful outlook on life and everyone around him.
Said one friend in an online comment, “Rand taught many of us humility, inclusion, pride, forgiveness and patience.”
“He had challenges but he met those challenges in his own way,” said Gary. “He just flowed with the tide. He really was incredible.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
