Roger L. Gauthier
The Honorable Roger Lawrence Gauthier, 76, of Portsmouth, formerly of Nashua, New Hampshire passed away peacefully on Jan 25, 2020.
Roger was born in Concord, New Hampshire on October 27, 1943, the beloved son of Lawrence F. Gauthier and Dorothy (Clemons) Gauthier. He grew up in Nashua where he graduated from Nashua High School in 1961. Roger graduated from Saint Anselm’s college in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and in 1968, received his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America School of Law in Washington D.C. While attending CUA law school, he was an Editor of the Law Review. Following law school, he received a direct commission into the Navy Judge Advocate General Corp. and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He served as a Navy Judge Advocate General in Charleston, South Carolina and Portsmouth, New Hampshire and was one of the last legal officers at the now closed Portsmouth Naval Prison. In 1972, Roger was appointed Assistant United State’s Attorney for New Hampshire and later served as the Assistant Hillsboro County Attorney. In 1976, he joined the law firm of Valeshka and Kozlowski and then Kozlowski, Gauthier and Parodi. In 1985 he was appointed and sworn in as Associate Justice of the Nashua District Court by then Governor John Sununu.
Roger was an active member of the Nashua community and had many long term Nashua friends. A champion golfer, boater, and sometime RV driver, Roger knew probably every word to any Barbara Streisand and Frank Sinatra song. Roger was a proficient legal expert and even in his retirement loved to litigate any issue large or small. Most important, Roger loved his wife and was extremely proud of all his children, grandchildren and nephews.
Roger was predeceased by his parents, Lawrence and Dorothy (Clemons) Gauthier and is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Mary Anne (Mullins) Gauthier, and his four children, Laura Frances Ward and her husband, David, of Arlington, Massachusetts, Julie Derby Marino and her husband, Brian, of Rye, New York, Joseph Roger Gauthier and his wife, Eve, of South St. Paul, Minnesota, and James Lawrence Gauthier and his wife, Elizabeth, of San Mateo, California. He is also survived by ten grandchildren, Jacquelyn Ward, Sabrina Ward, Madeline Marino, Fiona Marino, Rory Marino, Cian Marino, Lucas Gauthier, Emma Gauthier, Jude Gauthier and Maeve Gauthier and by his best friend and brother in law James B. Mullins, his wife Mary and their three sons.
Services: A time of visitation will be held from 8:30am -9:30am on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home – Buckminster Chapel, 84 Broad Street, Portsmouth, with a Mass of Christian Burial to immediately follow at 10am at the Immaculate Conception Church of Corpus Christi Parish, 98 Summer Street, Portsmouth. Interment with military honors will follow at Calvary Cemetery, Portsmouth.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Laura’s World Fund, P.O. Box 42, Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054 or Cystic Fibrosis Foundation [cff.org] or Massachusetts General Hospital Kidney research [giving.massgeneral.org].
For online condolences, visit: www.jvwoodfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are under the direction and care of the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home – Buckminster Chapel.