Felix Gatineau, born in Canada on November 12, 1857, settled in Southbridge in 1877 and died on December 31, 1927. While retaining his affection for the land of his birth, he achieved the highest type of citizenship in his adopted country and for fifty years served the community faithfully in offices of honor and trust. He was a charter member of Co. K, Sixth Regiment, M.V.M., organized in 1888; served as Selectman in 1893, Overseer of the Poor from 1895 to 1906, Sealer of Weights and Measures from 1914 to 1927, Representative in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1906, 1920–21, and 1927, and Trustee of the Massachusetts School for Feeble Minded at Waverley from 1907 to 1913. He was also president of the Societe St-Jean-Baptiste, Cercle Canadien, Club de Naturalisation, Conseil Rochambeau, Caisse Cooperative de Southbridge, and Club Republicain Franco-Americain du Massachusetts; a founding member of the Societe Historique Franco-Americaine and Ligue Civique Franco-Americaine du Massachusetts; president general of L'Union St-Jean-Baptiste D'Amerique from 1902 to 1911; director of the Caisse des Vieillards de la Meme Societe from 1919 to 1927; and author of L'Histoire des Franco Americains de Southbridge and L’Historique des Conventions Generales des Canadiens-Francais aux Etats-Unis. His fifty years of public life were marked by honor, devotion, and service.