Father Eugene V. LaPlante, A.A., 87

    WORCESTER – Father Eugene V. LaPlante, A.A., 87, died July 27 in Rose Monahan Hospice after an illness.
    Besides his fellow Assumptionist fathers and brothers, he leaves a sister, Lucille L. Pimentel of Dartmouth; his favorite niece, Susan Lafferty and her husband Andrew of Dartmouth; two nephews, Eugene Pimental and his wife Rosemary of Oswego, New York and Andre Pimental and his wife Nancy of Dartmouth; several grand-nephews and grandnieces.
    He was born and raised in North Dartmouth, the son of Eugene A. and Beatrice M. (Demers) Laplante. He graduated from Assumption Preparatory School in 1955 and then earned a bachelor’s degree from Assumption College in 1959.
    He entered the Augustinian of the Assumption novitiate in Quebec in 1952 and pronounced his first vows on Sept. 8, 1953, there. He then studied for the priesthood in Layrac, France, from 1955 to 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 19, 1958, by Bishop Roger Johan. He studied in Rome from 1959 to 1963 and was granted a doctorate in canon law there.
    His began his ministry as a professor at Assumption College from 1963 to 1965. After that, he became the chaplain at the Russian embassy in Moscow from 1965 to 1968 and again from 1979 to September 1983. He served as the superior of Cap Rouge, Quebec, for one year, and then ministered at the Assumptionist shrine in Beauvoir, Quebec, for 10 years until 1979 and again from 1983 to 1999. He was appointed to the Quebec Tribunal from 1974 until 1991. From 1999 to 2001, he was responsible for campus ministry at Assumption College and served as a spiritual adviser at Babson College in Wellesley. His last assignment was superior of the Assumptionist residence at Old English Road.
    The funeral will be held on Thursday, Aug. 1, at St. Anne- St. Patrick Parish, 16 Church St., Fiskdale, with a Mass at 10 a.m. Father Dennis M. Gallagher, A.A., Provincial of the North American Province, will be the principal celebrant. Burial will be in St. Anne’s Cemetery, Fiskdale. A period of visitation will be held from 9-10 a.m. Thursday in the church, prior to the Mass.     
Donations in his name may be made to the Assumptionist Retirement Fund, c/o Assumptionist Center, 330 Market St., Brighton, MA 02135-2100. Arrangements are under the direction of Sitkowski & Malboeuf Funeral Home, 340 School St., Webster.