Alfred E. Decoteau

Dr. Alfred E. Decoteau, 85, of Mason, NH, formerly of Dunstable, MA, died peacefully at his home Thursday, September 10, 2015. He was married to Helen I. (Palloch) Decoteau for 32 loving years, until she died in 1983.

Born in Barre, MA on November 14, 1929, he was the son of Mitchell and Lillian (Lemay) Decoteau. Al was a graduate of North Brookfield High School in 1948. Al served proudly in the United States Air Force for six years as a radar specialist. He graduated from North Dakota State University, and continued his education at Iowa State University where he received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. During these years he bred, raised, and showed dogs as his avocation. After graduating, Al joined the US Department of Agriculture and became the federal veterinarian in charge of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and then New England. Al was instrumental in creating programs to eradicate animal diseases in these regions. In his retirement, he pursued his passion for nature and animals as a bird specialist, or aviculturist. He was a world-renowned aviculturist having published four books and numerous articles on exotic birds, and judged bird shows nationally for many years. He was also the founder and director of several national avicultural societies. In 2014 Al received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Federation of Aviculture.

Al is survived by his three sons, Kevin Decoteau and his wife Michele of Mason, NH, Jay Decoteau and his wife Lea of Groton, MA, and Daren Decoteau and his wife Cathleen of Stratford, CT; nine grandchildren, Dan Decoteau and his wife Tina of Milford, NH, Nicole and Crystal Decoteau of Mason, NH, Corey, Shauna, Kelley, and Ben Decoteau of Boston, MA, Ashley Decoteau of Fitchburg, MA, and David Decoteau of Stratford, CT; two great-grandchildren, Sophia and Lucca Decoteau, and two step-great-grandchildren, Joshua and Leah St. John, all of Milford, NH. He is also survived by brothers Edmond Decoteau and his wife Jean, John Decoteau and his wife Jean, all of North Brookfield, MA, Mitch Decoteau of Yellville, AK, Richard Freeman, and Albert Freeman both of Barre, MA.

A memorial service will be celebrated Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the Brookline Chapel, 36 Main Street, Brookline, NH at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Al's memory to Home Health & Hospice Care, 7 Executive Park Drive, Merrimack, NH 03054.