Allen J. Broussard

Allen J. Broussard, known to his co-workers and friends as Helicopter Al from Granada Hills, formerly of Canton, Mass., died July 24, 2010. He was a son of the late Bill and Emilie Keenan of Canton. After attending three years at Boston College High School, he transferred to Canton High School, where he graduated. Al served a tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines as a helicopter crew chief where his love of aviation began. Upon leaving the Marine Corps, he settled in California, where he married his wife of 44 years, Paula. There, he obtained his A&P license and his private pilot license. For a short time Al worked as a technical representative for Bell Helicopter which included another tour to Vietnam as a civilian. After leaving Bell, he started his own helicopter business. At this point, the love of flight became all encompassing especially the love of the helicopter. He obtained his commercial helicopter pilot license and his Inspection Authorization Certificate. He built his own helicopters working as a pilot/mechanic and was contracted to a diverse range of jobs. This passion took him to all areas of the world. If he was not training others to fly, he was flying either the story ship or camera ship in a movie, crop dusting, or anything that involved a Bell Helicopter. He earned his Screen Actors Guild card flying the story ship in Ron Howards first movie Grand Theft Auto, landed in Alcatraz for the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz and landed in Mount St. Helens after the eruption with a group of scientists. For the last 25 summers, Al crop dusted in several states doing what he loved. In 2002, he was selected to fly the Bell 47 in the film Straight-Up: Helicopter in Action which is in the Smithsonian Institute National Air and Space Museum. In 2005, he was inducted into the Bell 47 Hall of Fame for his many contributes to The Helicopter that Saved So Many Lives. This July he was spraying crops in Minnesota when his helicopter crashed. He is survived by his wife, Paula from Granada Hills; his brothers, Shaun Keenan from Granada Hills and Barry Keenan and his wife Amy from Northridge; sister, Marci Hamilton-OHara and her husband Neil OHara from Santa Clarita; and four nieces, Kristin, Danielle, Bretton and Halie; one nephew, Zachary; and one great-nephew, Brecken. Allen leaves a very large close adopted family; he never met a stranger as everyone was or would be his friend. One of his favorite sayings was You are only here for a short time to have a good time and he lived this every day. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to South Norfolk County ARC in memory of Bill and Emilie Keenan and their son, Allen Broussard, 789 Clapboardtree St., Westwood, MA 02090, www.sncarc.org.