HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, DAD

August 18, 2011: Barry Cauchon

Dad is a huge Red Sox fan!

This is a personal note to my father, Dona Louis Cauchon who turns 80 years young today.  I love you Dad. You’ve brought joy to your friends and family for years and we look forward to many more happy times ahead.

For those of you who are curious, my father is as spry as ever. He’s a husband to my mother, Adrienne, a father of 8 kids and a grandfather to around 16 grandkids (I’ve lost count…sorry) The grandkids call him Pepere.

Dad is a former NASA engineer (during the Apollo years) and is currently writing a book. When it is done, I’ll interview him on An Awesometalk With!

His love of playing organized baseball/softball has always been strong in him.  It was only last year that he finally hung up his cleats, retiring from playing organized softball in his Senior’s League with his friends. And it was just a few years ago that he was pitching for our very competitive ‘A’ Level Slo-Pitch softball team called the Neighbour Hoods. He had an incredible knuckle ball that confounded many a batter. The Neighbour Hoods featured Dad, his six sons and a variety of other talented characters. Throughout 10 years of playing together in league play and tournaments, he gained great respect from his teammates and competitors alike. Many still keep in touch with him today. In his university days, he played baseball for UNH (University of New Hampshire). Today, he still enjoys playing in family pick up games and wiffle ball games at the cottage. And don’t even get me started on talking about the massive family reunions (we’ve got a lot of relatives and cousins) where we all look forward to the huge head-to-head international softball game between the Canadian Cauchons and the American Cauchons. Up until last year, the Canadian Cauchons had never lost (after all, we did play serious ball for many years). But last year was different. The American Cauchons kicked our asses. I’m sure that Dad is already planning his strategy to regain the title at the next reunion (his brother and sister play for the American Cauchons).

Dad was the big winner in the Family Reunion 2009 Olympics Costume contest.

Dad, you and Mom are the patriarch and matriarch, the souls and the glue that binds our family and friends together and have made our lives joyous over the years. We look forward to many many more. So enjoy your day and let’s get ready for our next big wiffle ball game up at the cottage in September . Everyone is ready and we will have a blast.

Happy Birthday, Pepere!

Barry