Call Staff Reports

WOONSOCKET — State Sen. Roger R. Badeau will be laid to rest on Tuesday, Fournier & Fournier Funeral Home announced Saturday.

Badeau, 71, a Democrat who represented District 20 in Woonsocket and Cumberland, “died peacefully at home Friday surrounded by his entire family,” according to his obituary published in today’s edition of The Call.
Badeau’s funeral will be held Tuesday at 9 a.m. from the Fournier & Fournier Funeral Home, 99 Cumberland St., with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. in St. Joseph’s Church, Mendon Road, Woonsocket. Burial will be held in St. Jean Baptiste Cemetery in Bellingham. Visiting hours are scheduled from Monday from 4 to 8 p.m.
Badeau had reportedly been battling pancreatic cancer for several months, but remained active in the Senate. He was at his desk in the Senate chambers as recently as Tuesday.
“Roger was a wonderful and devoted family man,” his family said in the obituary. “He loved spending time with his family, and was always quick to lend a helping hand whenever a project needed to be done. He was a generous man whose home was always open to family and friends.”
Sen. Badeau may have been a mainstay of the city Democratic party but he always put the city’s best interests first, City Council President Leo T. Fontaine, a Republican, said of the senior senator on Saturday.
“I dealt with him extensively on the middle school project and many other city issues and he was always a great advocate for Woonsocket,” Fontaine said.
Members of the council would attend Badeau’s services and members of the panel can also be expected to pay him tribute at their next meeting, he said.
“Senator Badeau was skilled at the art of politics, Former Lt. Gov. Roger Begin wrote in a guest commentary in today’s Call. “He understood that a person’s effectiveness is not measured by the volume of their voice. In a manner that came easy to him, he made friends. He worked with his friends and supported them.  When it was time for his opinion to be heard, his friends listened.”
Badeau was born in Woonsocket, the son of the late Henri and Florence (Lauzon) Badeau.
See BADEAU, Page A-2
The senator is survived by his wife of 49 years, Lucille (Barbeau) Badeau, as well as his children, Marc R. Badeau of Woonsocket, and Renee M. Lussier of Bellingham; his grandchildren, Adam, Brooke, Alexandria, and Robert, his brother, Laurent Badeau, and sisters, Constance B. Gentili, Vivian Cadieux, and Monique Auger, all of Woonsocket.
First elected to the Senate in 1984, Badeau had served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor since 1992, and was a member of the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee. He was a member of the House District 66 Committee. He served as vice chairman of Rhode Island Recovery Board of Directors. He was a member of the Workers Compensation Advisory Commission since 1995, and the Unemployment Insurance Board. Badeau served as board director of the Woonsocket Energy and Hydro Board from 1978 to 1982.
Badeau worked as a technical specialist in engineering for Hoechst Celanese Corp. in Coventry for 30 years before retiring. He was a member of the Italian Workingmen’s Club; Circle Laurier; Club Par-X: the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge 850; St. Joseph’s Veterans Association; was past president of St. Joseph’s Parish Council and a former member of the Woonsocket Rotary Club. He was also a former announcer for WNRI’s French Program.
Mayor Susan D. Menard said she has requested that the Police Department’s Honor Guard participate in Badeau’s funeral services and has also ordered flags in the city flown at half-mast in honor of the local senator. Gov. Donald Carcieri has ordered all state flags flown at half-mast until Badeau’s funeral. 
Meanwhile, a special election will be required to fill the District 20 seat.  Rhode Island General Laws call for a special election to be held within 70 to 90 days if a vacancy occurs before the first Monday in February of the second year of a Senate term.
“When someone like Sen. Badeau passes on, it leaves a hole in his place and it will be really difficult for someone to fill his shoes. When the big issues came up, we could always count on him to come through for us,” Fontaine said.