Dr. Leo C. Jacques, 99, died peacefully in Wayland April 4.

Jacques will be remembered as a devoted public servant, World War II veteran, avid traveller and outdoorsman, and loving husband, father, and grandfather.

Jacques was born October 9, 2015, to the late Archie and Georgianna (Chamberlain) Jacques in Somersworth, N.H.

As a young man, Jacques played piano professionally in a dance band. He studied at the University of New Hampshire and then Georgetown Medical School, which he graduated in 1941.

Shortly thereafter, Jacques enlisted as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corp. He initially served in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in the North Pacific. Following the Allied invasion of Europe, Jacques served in France and Germany with the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment.

Jacques spent the next five decades of his life working as a psychiatrist for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

He met his future wife, the late Margaret (Noe) Jacques, while both were working at Grafton State Hospital. Margaret was working a summer job fresh out of college. Eleven years Jacques' junior, she stood out to Jacques as "the smartest girl in town." They married on Oct. 12, 1949 and raised five children while living on the grounds of the hospital where they met. Although they had to move from the hospital when it closed in 1973, Leo and Margaret spent the rest of their lives living in Grafton.

After Grafton State Hospital closed, Jacques assisted with the state's transition to community-based mental health care by helping to establish mental health clinics around Southern Worcester County. He worked in several of these clinics until he retired in 1993.

Jacques was passionate for the outdoors and hiked frequently in the White Mountains. Jacques maintained excellent health late into his life, skiing and biking well into his 80s when Margaret's illness limited his own activity.

He and Margaret travelled throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. They also spent many summers on Cape Cod and owned a small cottage in Wellfleet.

Jacques spent more than 10 of the later years of his life caring for Margaret when she became ill, much of it without professional assistance. Because of Jacques' care and devotion, Margaret was able to live at home until only several months before she died in 2012.

Jacques is survived by his children, Alan R. of Knoxville Tenn., Paul F. and his wife Mary Ellen of Maynard, Carol J. Trembley and her husband Paul of Valencia Calif., David L. and his wife Lemesa of Nashville Tenn., John R and his wife Sherri of Richmond, R.I.; his grandchildren Matthew, Benjamin, Nicholas, Jesse, Andrew, Henry and Nola Rose; a niece Roberta Howard, a nephew Hubert Jacques and a sister in law Connie Jacques, all of Florida.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers you honor and remember Leo with memorial donations to The Grafton Food Bank, PO Box 324 Grafton MA 01519 or the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (http://www.alzfdn.org/ContributetoAFA/makeadonation.html).

Funeral Mass & Visitation
The calling hours for Dr. Jacques will be on Saturday, April 11 from 9:00 to 10:30 am at RONEY FUNERAL HOME 152 Worcester St. North Grafton followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 am at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 17 Waterville St. North Grafton. He will then be laid to rest in Pine Grove Cemetery. A guest book may be signed, messages of condolence offered, and directions may be obtained at:
www.roneyfuneralhome.com