SCARBOROUGH — Joseph James Doucette, 82, died Jan. 30 after a brief battle with cancer.

He was a devoted father, husband, golf enthusiast and a retired actuarial executive from Allstate Insurance Company. He was was blessed to have his seven children and loving wife by his side when he passed.

Doucette was born Dec. 5, 1929, in Allston, Mass., to Helen and Joseph Doucette, who raised he and his three siblings to be devout Catholics.

He graduated from St. Mary’s of Waltham, Boston College and Boston Teachers College. He loved sports and played basketball and semi-pro baseball and won the Massachusetts candle-pin bowling title. A highlight for Doucette was playing basketball against the Harlem Globetrotters.

He attended Officer Training School and entered the U.S. Navy as an Ensign, and later became a Lieutenant JG. After being discharged from the Navy, he taught for two years at the Rhode Island School of Design and attended Brown University for graduate work.

Doucette married Mary Louise Lillis on June 12, 1954, and they soon started a family together. As the children grew in number, he left teaching and entered the insurance field at John Hancock in Boston, Mass. He completed the eleven actuarial exams and became a fellow in the Society of Actuaries. He continued his career at New England Life in Boston and later moved his family to Scarborough to start the pensions department at Unum.

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He was his children’s biggest fan and never missed a sporting event, even if it meant going back to work late at night.

During his retirement, Doucette enjoyed golfing at Portland Country Club and Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, Fla. He played in the Maine Seniors and Southern Maine Seniors each year where he won many tournaments and recorded three holes-in-one during his lifetime.

Doucette is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Mary Lou; brothers Donald and his wife, Lenore, and Gerald and his wife, Mary Lou; sister Mary Lou and her husband, Paul Duseau; seven children Bernadette and her husband, Dennis Gratto,of Portland, Mary Lou and her husband, Steve Twomey, of Londonderry, N.H., Joseph Doucette of Franklin, Mass., Sheila and her husband, Gary Polkow, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Stephen Doucette and his wife, Crissy, of Boxborough, Mass., Therese and her husband, Tim Stepanek, of Hudson, Ohio, and Paula and her husband, Mike Orie, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; 19 grandchildren; and one great grandchild.

Visiting hours were held on Feb. 2 at Conroy-Tully Crawford South Portland Chapel, 1024 Broadway, South Portland. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12 p.m. on Feb. 3 at Saint Maximilian Kolbe Church, 150 Black Point Road, Scarborough.

In lieu of flowers, Mass offerings are requested in Doucette’s memory.


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