Urbain S. Rivard

Urbain S. Rivard, 88, of Sanford, passed away peacefully at his home on Friday, April 15, 2016. He was born in Springvale, ME, the son of Henry and Laura (Couturier) Rivard. As one of 13 children growing up on the family farm, Urbain and his brothers and sisters learned how to make or fix anything, including their own entertainment, from homemade skis to ice skating blades that they attached to their shoes. He started his education in a one-room schoolhouse, and joined the U.S. Navy in 1945 at the age of 17. Urbain served on the U.S.S. Loeser, a hospital ship, and was en route to the Pacific Theater when WWII ended. Following his honorable discharge, he returned to the Sanford/Springvale area. He started his own businesses, focused on landscaping, construction, and machinery repair. When not working, Urbain's love of ice skating gave him the opportunity to touch his blades on rinks from Massena, NY to Rockefeller Center. He shared his passion for the sport by giving lessons, including on Sanford's No. 1 Pond. He was also an accomplished singer and ballroom dancer as well.In 1958, a former boss presented him with the opportunity that would shape his already very rich life: the chance to work in the Dominican Republic. Soon after his arrival, he met his future wife Betty. They married in La Vega in 1959 and lived there and then in Niagara Falls, New York and Springvale, Maine before putting down roots on a lakefront lot in South Sanford. In 1965, he and his good friend Bob Couture finished building the house that would become home for he and his family for over 50 years.Urbain's interest in working abroad returned in 1969, when he joined International Mill Services (IMS) as a "troubleshooter" and immediately set out for Mexico. The work was hard and required long hours working in steel mills in small towns overseas. Often, the family stayed back in Sanford, where they would eagerly look forward to his month-long visits home, laden with stories and exotic gifts from faraway countries. Yet this experience also provided his children the opportunity to experience foreign cultures when they lived and went to school in Mexico and Brazil, and visited many other countries on vacation. Other assignments took him to Belgium (where Betty was born and has family), England, France, Norway, Spain, Canada, Egypt, Chile, Venezuela and Trinidad. He worked in a combination of French, Spanish and Portuguese, or "Urbain-ese," as friends and coworkers fondly named it. A self-taught engineer, product of the Depression, and hardworking French Canadian Roman Catholic, he later authored a book on Preventive Maintenance of machinery and equipment, reflecting on his work around the globe that saved his company millions of dollars. But through all his travels and business accomplishments, he always called Sanford home and kept his wife, family and community as the center of his world.He retired from IMS in 1988 and began the most joyous and productive time of his life, a twenty-eight year "retirement" with his life partner, Betty. During this time, he shared his passion for playing tennis, picked up on one of his overseas postings, to his children (and eventually to Betty); he was a regular fixture on weekday mornings at the Goodall Park tennis courts in Sanford. He wholeheartedly supported and watched with great pride his three children graduate from colleges and graduate schools, marry, and gift he and Betty with five active grandsons (yes, all boys).Urbain always kept learning -- from taking lessons on the violin in his 20s to learning keyboard in his 70s, and playing tennis in his 40s to teaching himself how to sail in his 60s. He loved to share these diverse skills and interests, including teaching his children building skills, car repair, fine woodworking, and, in the case of one lucky grandson, how to ride a bike - this when Urbain was 80. He loved gardening and landscaping the yard, which meant that he and Betty would give away huge amounts of tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and cut flowers every summer. In his "retirement," Urbain never stopped tackling major projects, from turning the swimming pool into a fish pond, complete with waterfall, to completing all sorts of complicated buildings around the house and in his children's homes here and overseas. Some winters, he and Betty travelled south for warmer weather to Hawaii, the Gulf Shores and Myrtle Beach - every time they were always glad to return home to family and friends in Maine. Urbain was an eternal optimist, and a warm and gracious soul. "He always had kind words to say about everyone," close friends and siblings recalled. He was a peacemaker and tireless worker who led by quiet example, all the days of his joyful, blessed life. A lifelong and devoted Catholic, Urbain was a member of Notre Dame Church, Springvale in his youth, Holy Family Parish, Sanford in his younger family days and, since 1999, a regular communicant at the Chapel and supporter of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Notre Dame in Alfred. He will be greatly missed by his wife of 57 years, Betty (Gorda) Rivard; his sons Dan and wife Ginger of Los Angeles, CA, and Tom and his wife Crystal of Sydney, Australia, and daughter Michele and her husband Andrew of Washington, D.C.; his dearly loved grandchildren, Christopher, Andrew, Ian, Joki, and Eden; brothers Jerry, Louis, and Ronald, and sisters Mary Anne, Mary Jane, Margaret, and Theresa; wonderful friends of 23 years Paul and Shirley Birtz; and many nieces and nephews, friends, neighbors and tennis players far and wide. He was predeceased by his sisters Betty and Mary, and brothers Donald, Paul, and Richard.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, April 21 at 10AM at the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Notre Dame Chapel on 132 Shaker Hill in Alfred, followed by a celebration of Urbain's life at the Oak Street Bistro, 3 Oak Street, Alfred. At 2PM burial with military honors will take place at the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Urbain's name to either, The York County Shelter Food Pantry, 140 Shaker Hill Road, Alfred, ME 04002 or The Brothers of Christian Instruction Retirement Fund, 132 Shaker Hill Road, Alfred, ME 04002.Arrangements are under the direction of the Carll-Heald & Black Funeral Home, 580 Main Street, Springvale.Condolences may be expressed by clicking on the condolences tab to the left.