Theodore Oliver Bolduc

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Theodore (Ted) Oliver Bolduc passed away Oct. 21, 2010 at the age of 91. He died of natural causes at the Hale Nohea care home in Honolulu.

Ted was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Augusta, Maine, to Michael and Jeanette Bolduc. He was their only son and grew up with two younger sisters, Violette and Anita. He graduated from Cony High School in 1938 where he excelled as both an athlete and student leader. Growing up during the Great Depression, Ted developed a very strong work ethic and appreciation for the value of a dollar. His drive and ambition earned him public recognition and a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet President Hoover in 1931 at the age of 12 for building his paper route service at the Kennebec Journal from nothing to well over 100 customers during the Depression.

Early on, Ted demonstrated an uncanny sense of insight when it came to investing. Just weeks before the stock market crash, he withdrew his money from the local bank and saved what would have a been a total loss. When his father asked him how he knew to take this unusual step, he said he just had a feeling. Though always the fiscal conservative, from that point and for the rest of his life, he had an uncanny flair for doing the right thing at the right time.

Ted enlisted in the Navy at the start of World War II and served as an aviation photographer, assigned primarily to "Lighter Than Air" (blimp) squadrons in Georgia and Florida. He married Navy nurse Bernice Fournier, from Waterville, Maine, in 1946 and together they raised eight children.

Ted and Bernice left Maine in 1952 and ventured west with their first three children, settling in the San Fernando Valley in California back when the valley was mostly orchards. As the valley grew, Ted recognized early on that a career in real estate would probably be a fruitful path to follow for himself and his growing family. After working for a number of brokerage firms, Ted passed the brokers' exam and founded his own real estate company, Valley College Realty. He opened two very successful offices operating in the 1960s before finally selling both his custom home and business to the same man and moving his family to Santa Barbara in 1967.

He subsequently became an expert broker in the purchasing of post office buildings when those assets were passed to the private sector. It was this enterprise that launched him to impressive financial success.

A self-made man with only a high school education, Ted amassed a sizable estate but always lived a humble life for himself. He was very instrumental in assisting his children and grandchildren in their educational pursuits.

From the 1970s and through the '90s, Ted traveled to the far reaches of the globe leaving no place wanting. His final years were spent residing mostly in California and Hawaii.

Ted was a very generous donor to two favorite charities throughout his latter years, Boys Town and Saint Jude's Children's Hospital. Stemming from his Catholic upbringing, these two causes were dear to him, representing his desire to help the helpless and to give them a fair chance in life.

Ted is survived by his sister, Anita, of Augusta,, his son, Michael, and wife Wendy of Temecula, Calif., his son, David, and wife Melody of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., his son, Steven, Encnitas, Calif., his daughter, Julie and husband John Lauritsen of Santa Barbara, his daughter, Mary, and husband Mered Oren of Carlsbad, Calif., his son, Gregory, and wife Joanne of Santa Barbara, his daughter, Denise, and husband Larry Caster of Kaneohe, Hawaii; 18 grandchildren and three great-grandsons. He was predeceased by his oldest daughter, Susan Coffey, of Green Valley Ariz.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, at Saint Augustine church in Augusta, Maine.