William Roger "Bill" Van Nieuwenhuyze

William (Bill) Roger Van Nieuwenhuyze, 93, of North Grosvenordale, Conn passed away peacefully on August 27, 2025, as he was entering hospice care.

Bill was born in Providence, RI on August 18, 1932, the son of Roger Dorlait Van Nieuwenhuyze and Alice (LeBoeuf) Van Nieuwenhuyze Dwyer .

He was married to the love of his life, Helen (Belhumeur) on April 28, 1956, and remained together for 64 years.

Bill began working on the Smith family dairy farm in Lincoln RI at the age of 14, proudly running it single handedly when others weren't available. Bill earned a GED after a raucous high school career and joined the Marines in 1951, serving until honorably discharged in 1954. He attended night school at the school of architecture at the RI School of Design for a short time while working at the Conklin Lime Quarry in Lincoln RI. However, he decided to just keep having children, leaving school and starting his career as a machinist at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in E Hartford, moving on to Ivanhoe Tool and Die, and various companies. He owned his own business at the former Desilet's Gas station/store in N. Grosvenordale, CT in the late 1960's, and at Tupco/Husky in Auburn, Mass before starting a new job path at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, CT. He ended his remarkable career at Home Depot, never retiring, and at the time of his death was an active employee in Oxford, MA, until mid-2024 as their oldest employee in the nation, managing the monthly Children's workshops and ensuring no customer ever left unhappy.

Bill always enjoyed working, wanting to lead a productive life supporting his large family. In later years folks at Dunkin Donuts in N Grosvenordale and Oxford, MA would see him driving up with a pencil in his ear, wearing his Home Depot hat and have his coffee and breakfast sandwich ready each weekend.

Bill, always the idea man, loved thinking about ways to solve mechanical problems, was fiercely independent, supportive and respectful of all kind and caring people (including marginalized, LGBTQ and neurodivergent communities), and interested in all things scientific. Dad absorbed information like a sponge, then generated a whirlwind of ideas with a mind that never slept. We always wondered what was going on in his head while he seemed to just be sitting quietly. He was pondering, always pondering something that could be meaningful and helpful.

Bill participated in 5 marathons as a running enthusiast, completing them all in his 40's and 50's.

Even as he worked into his 90's, he continued to read voraciously, complete the daily crossword and sudoku puzzles, build birdhouses and work in his yard. He volunteered to assist in building the current TEEG community center, providing 1500 hours of physical labor at age 80.

His children remember lying on blankets under the stars in the back fields, identifying constellations and waiting for the aliens to come and get him.

As a machinist at Pratt and Whitney in East Hartford, CT, Bill witnessed the first Boeing 747 engine ground test after solving a key machining problem which project engineers could not. He was the only non-VIP/Executive/Engineer invited as the test would not have been possible without his contribution.

In the early 60s, Bill machined some of the metal fittings on John Glenn's Mercury Spacesuit while working at Ivanhoe Tool & Die in East Thompson. The David Clark Company in Worcester, Mass developed the suit and contracted Ivanhoe to machine the fittings. Bill was given the job, and NASA sent a team down to Ivanhoe to pick up the parts he had fabricated.... The Glenn spacesuit is on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC.

He loved music and listening to his wife's piano playing, gifting a daughter with albums from Janis Joplin and Neil Diamond.

He enjoyed walking through the flower gardens with his great-granddaughters Flora and Penny, popping over for visits and dinner, long conversations with son-in-law Tom, and of course, Jell-O

Remaining to cherish Bill's memory are his children Lynn and Louis Davis of North Grosvenordale, CT/Scottsdale AZ, Linda Van Nieuwenhuyze of North Grosvenordale, CT/Phoenix AZ, Debra and Joe Petrick of Henniker NH, Wendy Van Kirk and Tom Thurlow of Putnam CT, William S Van Nieuwenhuyze of Meriden CT, and Jennifer and Gary Gomes of Dudley MA, 15 grandchildren (Hillary Davis, Alex Davis, Beatrice DeSabatino and Sean Higgins, Andrew DeSabatino and Gina, Chris and Courtney Petrick, William and Colleen Petrick, Joey Petrick, Charlie Petrick, Lindsay Van Kirk and Nathan Graham, Aubrey Van Kirk, Ronald and Taylor Kong, William Van Nieuwenhuyze, Laratee Van Nieuwenhuyze, Kaelin Andersen, and Quinn Andersen and Rebecca Torres. 6 great grandchildren (Talis Petrick, Nessa Petrick, Lily Petrick, Ryan Petrick, Flora and Penny Graham; his brother Robert (Bob) Van Nieuwenhuyze, brother-in-law Robert Belhumeur and Cathy, sister-in-law Lorraine and Richard Eramo, nieces: Julie and Gerry Galleshaw, Joanne Sykes, Paula and Gary Elsmore, Susan Ferland, nephews: Jim and Shera, David and Linda, and Bobby and Jodie Van Nieuwenhuyze, David Gagne, Michael and Robyn Ferland, his Home Depot family: Michaela, Lee, Pam, Branca, and friends Merrill and Dottie Seney, Mike Tomany, Samantha, Rosemary, Nicole and so many others.

Preceding Bill in death are his wife Helen Van Nieuwenhuyze, his sister Louise Taupier and parents Roger and Alice, brother-in-law John Taupier, sister-in-law Marilyn Van Nieuwenhuyze, sister-in-law Georgette Ferland, brother-in-law Gene Ferland, and sons-in-law John Van Kirk and Kevin Andersen.

No visitation, cremation and interment will be private for immediate family only.

Donations in his name can be made to Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group (TEEG) in Thompson, CT. For memorial guestbook, please visit www.GilmanAndValade.com.