PARENTEAU, Bernard C. “Ben” March 27, 1928 – March 18, 2017, of Needham formerly of Chicago. Devoted husband of the late Elsie Grace Sullivan Parenteau, son of the late Bernard V. Parenteau and Mary Gladys Parenteau nèe Carlson of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, beloved brother of Dudley Parenteau of Chicago, Mary Agnes Sarmer of Seattle, Thomas Parenteau of Chicago, and of the late Basil Parenteau, Paul Parenteau, and Donald Parenteau, and beloved father of Bernard Parenteau of Boca Raton, Florida, James Parenteau of Norfolk Virginia, Thomas Parenteau of Pensacola Florida, Robert Parenteau of Portland Oregon, Elsie Sullivan of Plainville Massachusetts, and Joanne Parenteau of Newton Massachusetts.
Ben was born and raised in the city of Chicago, the oldest of 7 children. He joined the Navy at 17 and was stationed in Newport, RI where he met his future wife, the former Elsie Sullivan. Ben was an excellent athlete, having starred at basketball during high school, and after the Navy he attended DePaul University as a physical education major. After a year he transferred to Culver-Stockton College in Missouri and majored in mathematics. After earning his Bachelor’s degree there he taught High School mathematics and coached basketball in Kimberly, Idaho for two years during which time he also married Elsie. The couple returned to Chicago in 1954 where the first 5 of their 6 children were born. Ben worked in the actuarial department of Allstate and was recruited to be one of the first computer programmers when that company got its first computer. Ben continued in the computer field, taking a job at Honeywell in 1963 and moving to Needham, Massachusetts where daughter Joanne was born and where he raised his family. Ben remained in the computer field throughout his career, managing several computer centers for Honeywell and later managing the IT department at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. While at Honeywell he led the team that did the first computer-based timing of the Boston Marathon. Ben was an avid and skilled golfer and pool played and remained mathematically and computationally inclined throughout his life. He donated considerable time and effort to local charities developing and maintaining their computer systems. He was a devoted family man and will be missed greatly by many.
Funeral Mass will be at Saint Joseph’s church in Needham at 12 noon on Saturday, March 25. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Charles River ARC, 59 East Militia Heights Drive, Needham, MA 02492.