Norbert E. Berube

Norbert E. Berube, 90, of Tiverton, passed away on Friday, November 8, 2024. He was the husband of Pauline (Sirois) Berube, with whom he shared 69 years of marriage.

A graduate of St. Jean the Baptist, Mount St. Charles Academy, and attended Bryant University, Norbert was a Master Sgt. in the United States National Guard. He worked as the director of maintenance and engineering at St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. He was an avid cod fisherman on St. John’s Boat out of Plymouth. He built his own home in 1965, and has lived there ever since.

He was the father of Roger Guy Berube and William Paul Berube, and was the brother of Maurice Berube, Vietta Berube, Edgar Berube, and Jeannine Berube.

He was the son of the late Alfred J. and Anita (Gamache) Berube, father of the late Michael N. Berube, and brother of the late Olivette Caron.

Kindly omit flowers. In Norbert’s memory, please pay it forward.

THE HOUSE WITH SOMEBODY IN IT

Whenever I walk near Stafford Pond at the curved road and turn right,
I pass a lovely older home, with it's shingles redwood and white.
I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
and look at the house, the lovely house, the house with the family in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I know there are such things,
that they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowing.
Surely this house is happily haunted, of this I would not have lied.
For it holds such lovely memories of those who lived here and died.
For Michael surely loved this place, he water skied and swam,
And grandpa, Guy's spirit must still fish along the dam.
Surely it was yesterday Bill chased butterflies with his nets,
And Roger teased Honey, Sherry, and Princess--his pets.
Do Chris, Alan and Julie still swim to turtle rock,
and Grandma Louise, Elaine, and Aunt Dot still sit in the swing and rock?
And can echoes of childrens' laughter still be heard all day,
When all the neighborhood children came in the yard to play.
Do Jim and Bobby still climb the gym,
Does Lorry find time to come over to swim?

This house on Old Stafford Rd. has 35 panes of glass--
and the house is always weeded and the husband mows the grass.
It has new paint and skylights, and the vines are trimmed and tied.
And it has a loving family of people who dwell inside.
For they built this house themselves, each nail, each board, each stone,
and this is what made this place such a sunlit happy home.
Norbert did the carpentry and Pauline planted all the trees,
And Michael, Bill and Roger filled it with happy memories.

This house has done what a house should do, a home that has sheltered life.
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and a wife.
It has known life and death, laughter and tears,
and love and memories through the years.

So whenever I go to Stafford Pond along Old Stafford Rd.
I never go by this happy home without stopping and looking back.
And pray, a hundred years from now, this house will always know
The happy memories of the people within who have and loved her so.

- A poem by Norbert's Family