The official obituary
Joseph Frederic Rancourt was born in 1981 and raised in Madison, NH. He attended Madison Elementary, Kennett HS, Northfield-Mt. Hermon School, and Reed College in Portland, OR. After college, he returned to NH to live and work in Hanover. He worked as a research coordinator at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital. He died suddenly, of natural causes, at his home in Etna on Wednesday, January 19th, 2011. If you are young and get sick with flu or a bad cold, don’t think you are invincible, call for help. If Joe had, he might still be with us.
Joe was a kind and gentle soul, smart as a whip, with a wonderful sense of humor, beloved by everyone who knew him. He loved to travel, read, fish, snow machine with his dad, kayak with his mom, cook for his friends, hang out with his family, and he loved music. He will be sorely missed.
He is survived by his mother and father, Jay and Robbin Rancourt of Madison, sister Lichen Rancourt, brother-in-law David Smolen, niece Lotte Smolen of Manchester, NH, and his grandparents Joseph and Jean Rancourt of North Conway, NH.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation, 20 Horseneck Lane, 2nd Floor, Greenwich, CT 06830 (This foundation was started by the family of Joe’s dear friend in high school, Tucker Davis, who succumbed last year to fibrolamellar cancer), or to Cook Memorial Library, 93 Main St., Tamworth, NH 03886.
We are building a memorial website for Joe, please send your thoughts, stories, and pictures to http://littlegorilla.net.
There will be a memorial celebration on Saturday, January 29th, 1 p.m. on at Tin Mountain Conservation Center, in Albany, NH. Please bring potluck, both food and drink. Please call Diane Johnson at 447-5117 to coordinate food for Joe’s service. She, sweet thing, is the point person.
If you need a place to stay, there are many beds waiting at friends’ houses. Just email me, jay.rancourt@gmail.com. Really, no trouble.
We’ll hook you up.
Or our beloved friends at the Darby Field Inn will take care of you and they are right next door to Tin Mountain. There’s the Gilman Tavern in Tamworth a half hour away, and Mt Washington Valley is loaded with places to stay that are within 15 minutes’ drive.