Francis C. Lapointe

1939 - 2025

Francis C. Lapointe
1939 - 2025
Chicopee
Francis C. "Frank" Lapointe, 86, of the Willimansett Heights section of Chicopee, passed peacefully on January 20, 2025, joining his parents, Edna Vandal and Francis J. Lapointe, and his many cousins, aunts, uncles, and hundreds of friends in his next life. He was born in Holyoke in 1939 and was raised in Chicopee where he lived for 85 years of his life.
Frank attended Mt. Carmel, Chapin, and Kirby schools and graduated from Chicopee High School in 1956. He received his bachelor's degree in 1962, and a master's degree in 1964 from Westfield State University. He completed a second master's degree in 1980 from Suffolk University in Boston.
He taught at Chicopee High School, Huntington School in San Marino, California, and Van Sickle School in Springfield. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1969 through 1979. He also served as an assistant Secretary of State, director of personnel for the Western District of the Department of Social Services, director of personnel for Medicaid, and an assistant director in the Department of Transitional Assistance in Springfield.
As a member of the General Court, he became an assistant majority leader, chairman of the Election Laws committee, and chairman of the special commission on the needs of the handicapped. He secured one million dollars to renovate and increase handicapped access to the state house, the University of Massachusetts, and Springfield Technical Community College. He was named Legislator of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of Paraplegics in 1976. He also secured the first forty thousand dollar grant to establish the telecommunications center in the Chicopee public schools through Title III.
He designed, developed, and worked to pass legislation creating the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which sets guidelines and rules for political spending in the Commonwealth. Working with Common Cause, he gained the passage of limits on campaign spending and promoted legislation requiring economic disclosure for candidates, officeholders, and state employees in important managerial positions. His legislation was the first to allow unenrolled (independent) voters to vote in primaries. He also became an expert in redistricting and was consulted on such matters up to 2011.
He was a delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, which nominated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis for President. In the mid-seventies, he flew with Governor Dukakis on the first flight from Boston to the new private Westover Air Park.
He was president and treasurer of the Willimansett Heights Improvement League, which has serviced the Willimansett Heights area of Chicopee since 1949.
A lifelong movie buff, he wrote film reviews for the Chicopee Herald and Town Reminder and was an on-air film critic for ABC 40 and WMAS radio. In 2001, he retired from public service and managed his film review website, www.projections-movies.com.
He interviewed many film stars and mingled with others at the Broadcast Film Critics Award show in Los Angeles, where one year he appeared on stage with the awarding of Best Picture of the Year.
He was a communicant of Sainte Rose de Lima Church and was a longtime communicant of the former Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, both in Chicopee.
Francis enjoyed a champagne dinner at twilight at the base of Ayers Rock in the center of Australia, stood on top of the World Trade Center, rode the canals in Venice, visited 221B Baker St. in London, dined at the second level of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, enjoyed the midnight sun in Alaska, walked on the surface of a volcano in Hawaii, and navigated an outrigger canoe in Hilo Bay. On his 60th birthday, his children gifted him the opportunity to play baseball with former professional baseball players in Florida. He also loved visiting Disney World and watching the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
He leaves his wife of 60 years, Adele (Ruel) Lapointe; his son, David Ruel Lapointe and his wife, Joyce, of West Springfield; his daughter, Audrie Caron Raymond and her husband, John, of Granby; his four grandchildren, Nolan Raymond, and Nathaniel, Isabelle, and Anne Lapointe; his two brothers-in-law, Albert Ruel and his wife, Sandra, and Gary Ruel and his wife, Irene, all of Chicopee; and his many nephews, nieces, cousins, numerous friends, and extended family members. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his five brothers-in-law, Wilfred, Gerald, Henry, Robert, and Ronald Ruel.
Frank's family will receive friends on Saturday, February 1, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. followed by a Celebration of Life Service at 10:30 a.m. at the St. Pierre-Phaneuf Aldenville Chapels, (413-532-9806), 13 Dale Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. The parking lot and main entrance of the funeral home are located in the rear at 20 Lafayette Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. His burial will follow the prayer service at Sainte Rose Cemetery, 49 Olsen Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Frank's memory to Harmony House, WMA, 66 View Street, Chicopee, MA 01020. For more details and to leave his family condolence messages, please visit: www.stpierrephaneuf.com