caption, page 7:

 

Theodore J. “Teddy” Messier, Sr. Photo by John D. Ryan

 

A century as a husband, 

father and faithful 

Catholic 

DAYVILLE — The spring in his step may be gone, but the twinkle in his eye is as bright as ever.

Known as “Teddy” to everyone, Theodore J. Messier Sr., was born in Putnam on March 29, 1915. He moved to Westview Health Care Center in Dayville just over a year ago from his long-time home on Addison Street in Putnam.

The life-long Putnam resident will celebrate his 100th birthday March 29, at the Cargill Council 64 Knights of Columbus Home, 64 Providence St. The reception will start at 1:30. All of Teddy’s friends are invited to attend. Joining Cargill Council in 1961, he was the council’s Grand Knight for four years during the 1960s and the council’s treasurer for 39 years after that, stepping down in 2010.  

Even after almost a century, Teddy gives off an air of irrepressible happiness. Here is a man who has taken what he was given and mastered the art of living. He credits his success to his wife and his long and happy marriage.

“The best thing I ever did was marry Lillian,” Messier said, talking about his late wife, who died in 2012, at the age of 94. “I was on the street with the fellahs when I saw Lillian going to (St. Mary’s) church on a Friday afternoon. I told them I was going to go make a date with her. So I went up and told her I’d like to make a date with her for Saturday night. I liked the way she acted. She was truthful.”

Truthfulness. That’s the running theme of Messier’s life. “I always knew it was best to be straight with everyone,” he said.

That first date with Lillian led straight to marriage, on May 30, 1937, followed by work at Pratt and Whitney during WWar II, three children, decades of devotion to his family, his Catholic faith and his community. Teddy and Lillian were happy together for almost 75 years, until her death. He has some advice for husbands trying to get along with their wives:

“It’s just two words, ‘Yes, dear,’” Messier said. “We were lucky; we liked the same things, country music, listening to the Grand Ole Opry, going out together. We were very happy.”

They had three children, Robert, who lives in Ellington, Carol Rodriguez, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Theodore, Jr., of Putnam, who died in 2012, at age 70. They were devoted parents.

“We always made sure the kids were home at night by 9 o’clock,” he said. “That’s the one thing bothers me about the way the world is now, the way that families have break up so much.”

Messier has had a long and happy life, well lived, but it was not without tragedy. 

“When I was 14, my father was hit by a train and killed at Attawaugan Crossing,” he said. “He was delivering a load of wood in a truck when the train hit him.”  

Eli Messier was killed in February, 1929. Teddy’s brother Anotonio was 16 when he died of appendicitis in 1930. By then, the Great Depression had started the country spiraling downward.

“We had holes in our shoes; it was rough,” Messier said.

After graduating from the former St. Mary’s School, by 1931, he had been attending Putnam High School for two years, but he soon had to quit, to help to support his mother, Antonia, and his remaining four brothers and sisters.

“I was lucky to get my first job when I was 16, at Guertin’s Grocery Store, on School Street,” Messier said.

Eventually, that led to a job in a tea store in Putnam. He was working there when he married. During the war he was a foreman at Pratt and Whitney, where helped to make engines for B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and P-51 Mustang fighter jets. 

“I met a man a little while ago who was part of a B-17 bomber crew. We had a good time talking when I told him I helped build them,” he said.

After the war, Messier drove a truck, first for the former Putnam Laundry on Cleveland Street, and then for the Former Ace Cleaners on Main Street. He retired in 1977.

Life with Lillian was rewarding and eventful, revolving around their children and their strong Roman Catholic faith, as parishioners at St. Mary Church of the Visitation in Putnam. They attended Mass at least once a week, and more often when they could. Lillian served for 24 years as Regent of the Daughters of Isabella’s St. Mary’s Circle 543, headquartered at the parish. Teddy was Cargill Council’s Grand Knight for four of those years, so they often presided together at combined events.

“Our faith in God kept us going,” he said. “The church was always there in my life. I look to God for everything.”

Messier said that he’s lived in an eventful time.

“We still had plenty of horses and buggies when I was a kid,” he said. “There were silent movies. We had crystal radios then, but now we have cell phones in our pockets. We’re up in space. Today we have Buck Rogers for real.”

Resisting clichés, Messier doesn’t have a secret for his long and healthy life. Even so, you could draw some conclusions.

I never had a glass of beer in my life,” he said. “and I never smoked.”

Reflecting on his century on earth, Teddy Messier returned to the subject of truthfulness, the principle which has animated his life.

“Be truthful and everything will come out all right.”

 

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