Donald Beaulieu

DONALD BEAULIEU

HADLEY, MA - Donald Romeo Beaulieu, 94, passed away peacefully on August 7, 2025, at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

Don was born on May 16,1931, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the son of Napoleon and Amelia (Menard) Beaulieu. He was raised in South Hadley, and he attended the South Hadley public schools. After High School, Don was employed at the American Tissue Mill in Holyoke. On December 7, 1951, the 10th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Don voluntarily enlisted in the United States Navy and proudly served aboard the USS Mississippi until 1953. After his service, he was employed by Western Mass Electric Company, retiring in 1989 after 32 years as the facilities manager at the Brush Hill offices in West Springfield.

In 1969, Don married Carolyn Karpinski, and they moved to the Beaulieu family farm in Hadley. There, he spent a lifetime on his tractors, haying the fields and selling hay to local horse owners. Don and Carolyn loved to entertain at the farm. Their families often reminisce about their annual summer picnics with hay wagon rides for the kids through the fields for a treat at the local ice cream farm stand. They enjoyed 54 years together until her passing in December 2023. Don was an avid outdoorsman and sportsman. He was a professional breeder and trainer of English Setter bird dogs, and he was active in the New England Field Trials competitions. Don was a founding member and lifelong patron of the Post 430 Hunt Club in Brimfield, Massachusetts, and he had a uniquely generous and patient perspective on the world of field trialing and setter breeding. Don's legacy lives on in the champion lines that he helped produce.

Don follows the passing of his wife, Carolyn, his three brothers, Ernest, Alfred and Robert, and his niece, Michele Beaulieu Connor. He is also predeceased by his two brothers-in-law and their wives, Walter and Edith Karpinski and Stanley and Arlene Karpinski. He is survived by his sisters-in-law, Pauline Beaulieu of Nashua NH, and Adelia Beaulieu of Gaylord MI, and by 13 nieces and many great nieces and great nephews.

Don also leaves his pal, Gary Tavares, of Southbridge, a fellow sportsman and setter breeder, who traveled with Don and hunted with him in Texas and throughout the Northeast. Gary's weekly "happy hour" visits turned into countless happy hours when Don would tell his tales about visiting the National Bird Dog Museum in Tennessee, and about all his hunting trips from the grasslands of Saskatchewan to the pine forests of the deep South.

Don will be sorely missed by his friend and neighbor, Gordon Smith, who really kept him going and farming for the last 20 years of his life, so much so that Don was still driving a tractor and mowing hay at the age of 94! They shared an interest in red Ford 350 pickups, John Deere tractors, and a cold Bud every afternoon at 4.

The family would like to thank the nurses of Cooley Dickinson Hospice for their devoted care for Don in his final days.

Loved ones will hold a private memorial service for Don and Carolyn on their farm in the early Fall. Please go to Czelusniakfuneralhome.com for online condolences and Tribute book.