Joseph MacDougald

MacDOUGALD, CWO Joseph James U.S. Army, Ret'd. 91, of Wrentham, MA and St. Petersburg, died peacefully at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, on June 7, 2009. Joe was born in Providence, RI on March 22, 1918, to Joseph M. and Loretta Reynolds MacDougald. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design before enlisting in the Army in 1941, serving in the Field Artillery with the 659th Artillery Battalion in France and Germany during WWII, and later in the Military Police Criminal Investigations Detachment (CID) for the remainder of his 25-year career. He served in Germany, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, Utah, Maryland, Korea and Louisiana, before retiring in 1966, as a Chief Warrant Officer. He married Ruth Louise Marsden in 1941, his devoted and loving wife for their 60-year marriage. Ruth died in St. Petersburg, in 2001. Joseph and Ruth settled in Wrentham, MA after retiring from the Army, where he founded the Wrentham Historical Society. Joseph was an endlessly inquisitive learner with a passion for preserving information about the past. He spent 35 years researching and creating historical archives, which he donated to the town of Wrentham. The MacDougald Archives are housed there at the Fiske Memorial Library. Joseph's legacy leaves a strong impression on the many lives he graced. He will be dearly missed. Joseph is survived by his son, James Edward MacDougald; his daughter Kathleen MacDougald Jacobs; his sister Loretta MacDougald Lapierre and his brother James Austin MacDougald. He had 4 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at St. Raphael Catholic Church, 1376 Snell Isle Blvd., at 10 am on Thursday, June 12. Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes