Raymond Joseph Blaquiere Sr. of Hampton Bays died on September 12 at Oasis Rehabilitation and Nursing in Center Moriches. He was 97.
Mr. Blaquiere, who was of French Canadian descent, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on January 21, 1918. The family moved to Brooklyn in March 1930.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1942, during World War II, and he was in charge of LST landing craft ferrying Marines to and from the beachhead during the battles for both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Japan.
A carpenter by trade, over the years he became the secretary of the carpenters union. In 1955 he established his own contracting business, which he operated for about 30 years before retiring in 1985.
Later in life, Mr. Blaquiere volunteered as a Boy Scout leader, and as a softball team coach. He was a senior member of the American Legion, Knights of Columbus, and a member of the Southampton and Melbourne, Florida, chapters of the Elks.
His mother was Emma Blaquiere, and he had a brother, Frank, and a sister, Loretta; all of them predeceased him. After the death of his first wife, Lillian, he remarried twice. His third wife was Dorothy Sheehan (Benson) from Hampton Bays, who predeceased him in 2010.
He is survived by a son, Raymond J. Blaquiere Jr., who was born March 7, 1940, with his first wife, Lillian, who died in 1979.
A funeral service will be held at O’Shea Funeral home in Hampton Bays on Friday, September 18, from 6 to 8 p.m.
on Sep 14, 2015