Omer J. Cormier

Omer J. Cormier, 94, died peacefully on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at the Gardner Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, surrounded by family. He led an active and full life, centered around faith, family, and good citizenship. He was the consummate Gardnerite.

Born in Gardner on November 9, 1930, he was the youngest son of the late Alyre and Philomene (Boudreau) Cormier. Growing up on Mission St. near his family's business, People's Ice & Coal, he and his brothers learned to work hard by splitting wood, pumping gas, and hauling ice. He loved sports, whether playing at Greenwood playground or reading about them in his Uncle Alfred's copy of The Worcester Telegram. After high school baseball, he played softball for the Napoleon Club, managed the first Mount Wachusett Community College baseball team, coached Little League, and umpired. And, of course, he never stopped cheering for his beloved Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics.

Omer was a lifelong parishioner and supporter of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, now Annunciation Parish, where he served as a lector for many years and often emceed the auction at the annual bazaar.

A Holy Rosary and 1948 Gardner High graduate, he then attended Assumption College, graduating in 1952, before enlisting in the U.S. Army. After his basic training at Fort Dix, NJ, he was deployed to France for 18 months, where he served as an interpreter in La Foret de la Braconne, earning the rank of corporal. While on leave, he traveled to Paris and Lourdes, some of the fondest memories of his life.

Upon returning, he courted Jeannine Boucher, a nearby Nichols St. girl, who had moved to Hartford with friends. Driving his 1937 Packard there on weekends, he proposed at the Hofbrauhaus restaurant, marrying her at Holy Rosary on January 26, 1957. They shared 63 years together, before Jeannine's death in 2020, raising seven children. The family house on Chestnut St., with its big backyard, Barn basketball court, and finished basement, became a popular spot for the family's friends. They often vacationed, loaded in the family station wagon, on Cape Cod with Omer's beloved aunt and uncle, Rose and Alfred, or with his siblings and their families in Virginia. Later, nothing made Omer happier than the large family reunions, a tri-annual event since 1995.

While he served as a probation officer for the Gardner District Court from 1968-1995, being named chief the last five years, he was a newspaperman at heart. When he returned from France in 1954, he was hired by The Gardner News, working closely with his newsroom mentor, Col. Tom Flynn. He covered a variety of beats, including City Hall, the police log, and the school board, eventually being named assistant city editor, but it was as a sports writer and editor that he made his greatest contributions.

Covering nearly 600 Gardner High School football games over 60-plus years, he also reported on countless basketball games, as well as, local golf. But it was his devotion as the chronicler of the football team that was legendary, including a run of over 55 straight Thanksgiving Day games. In addition to the game story, he provided color commentary for the WGAW radio game broadcast, and emceed the team's annual banquet. It was all a labor of love. His writing style was unmistakable, a homespun folksiness that was anchored by strong reporting, with an enthusiastic tone championing the schoolboy athlete. He once said, "For these kids I have lived and died a thousand times." Among other accolades, in 1993, he was inducted into the Gardner High Athletic Hall of Fame as the "Voice of the Wildcats" and honored with the Media Award by the Massachusetts High School Football Association.

When he wasn't covering Gardner High athletes, he could often be found at Gardner Municipal Golf Course playing the game he loved with family and friends. As a father with a house full of young children, he founded the "Dawn Patrol," an early-morning group of friends who could get a round in and then get home. As his children became more independent, rounds of golf would often end at the Napoleon Club, where he was a lifelong member.

Always civically-minded, he served proudly for many years as a director of the Franco-American Credit Union, which he fiercely believed helped to build communities like Gardner. In retirement, he and Jeannine regularly volunteered at the polls on election day.

He is survived by three sisters, Yvonne McKenna of Waltham, MA, Claire Fountaine of Fairfax, VA, and Lucille Vezina of Ashburn, VA.; his seven children, Christopher Cormier of Gardner, Lisa (John) Weiss of Spotsylvania, VA, Timothy (Kathy) Cormier of Fairfax, VA, Michelle Cormier of Chicopee, MA, Jane (Sean) Morrill of San Diego, CA, Mark (Anne) Cormier of South Hadley, MA, and Russell (Tina) Cormier of Wethersfield, CT; thirteen grandchildren, Nic, Tyler, TJ, Alison, Neal, Connor, Jack, Anna, Eliza, Sarah, Michael, Regina, and Andrew; and five great-grandchildren, Whitley, Charlie, Theo, Emily, and Noah.

In addition to his wife, he was predeceased by his sister, Dora Laliberty, and two brothers, Leo and Normand Cormier.

Calling Hours will be held Monday, September 29, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. in the Boucher Funeral Home, Inc., 110 Nichols Street, Gardner, MA.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, September 30, 2025, at 12:30 p.m. at Annunciation Parish, 135 Nichols Street, Gardner, MA. Burial with Military Honors will follow at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 111 Glenallen Street, Winchendon, MA at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Omer and Jeannine's favorite charity, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105 or on their website at (www.stjude.org), or to the GHS Sports Journalism Class, [checks payable to Gardner High School, MEMO: Sports Journalism Class], 200 Catherine St., Gardner, MA, 01440. Please reference in memory of Omer J. Cormier