Obituary: Marceline A. Frotten, 85, Wakefield resident and longtime Melrose-Wakefield Hospital employee

Marceline Frotten always understood the importance of family. Whether it was her own five children, one of her seven grandchildren or one of their eight kids, the longtime Wakefield resident always made sure to include everyone in the familial festivities.

“My mom was such a good person and so well liked,” said her son, Robert Frotten of Easton. “She really was the center of our family. She was also very fond of friends, she would invite them over to have dinner at our house all the time. She was very inspiring that way. She reached out to friends, and she was also very good at including extended family.”

Marceline A. Frotten, married to her husband, J. Paul Frotten, for 65 years, was a longtime resident of Wakefield and worked at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital for 18 years before retiring. She passed away at the Golden Living Center of Melrose on June 12 from complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 85.

Nova Scotia to Wakefield

Born on April 24, 1926 in the tiny hamlet of Quinan, Nova Scotia to the late Peter and Odessa Doucette, Mrs. Frotten attended the Nova Scotia Provincial Normal College—a now defunct teacher’s college in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. She later worked in the Quinan school system as a teacher.

It was in Quinan—a village of some 300 inhabitants—that she met her husband, J. Paul Frotten. After a brief courtship, the couple exchanged vows on April 25, 1946—one day after her 21st birthday.

“They were both from the same village,” said Robert Frotten of his parents. “It was a small place; my dad just had his eye on her and asked her out.”

In 1963, the Frotten’s loaded their five children into a station wagon and headed for the United States, and Boston specifically. Initially a homemaker after arriving in the area, Mrs. Frotten did numerous small cleaning jobs before catching on in the maintenance department of the Mel-Wak Hospital, where she would spend the next eighteen years before retiring. Mrs. Frotten was a member of Wakefield’s St. Joseph’s Church.

French-Acadian Roots
Robert Frotten characterized his mother as a free thinker. A religious woman, but never to the point of being blinded by her faith.

“She was a simple woman in many regards,” he said. “Her values, family and religion ... She was old school, but in some ways she was very avant-garde. She believed very strongly in doing better, she didn’t want us to forget our roots, but she wanted us to do better. She was very protective of her family.”

The province of Nova Scotia was originally settled by French colonists in the 17th century under the name Acadia, and the area retains a sizable French-Acadian community with its own traditions and history. 

According to Robert, Mrs. Frotten took great pains to recreate traditional French-Acadian fare for family and friends.

“There is a meal that all French Acadians know very well and it’s called Rappi Pie,” he said about a dish his mother used to prepare. “It is a dish that everyone likes; if you are French Acadian, you like Rappi Pie. She would cook this meal that everyone loved, even though it’s kind of a chore to make. But people loved it.”

Mrs. Frotten was also highly capable of instilling passion in others. 

“My paternal grandfather never had a proper burial marker,” said Robert Frotten. “She spoke so highly of him, she inspired me to get some of my family together and get him a proper burial marker.

“She spoke of him in such glowing terms, it was really a reflection of how caring she was.”

Besides her husband Joseph Paul Frotten, her son Robert and his wife Anne Marie, Mrs. Frotten is survived by Lawrence D. Frotten and his wife Andrea of New Jersey, Jeanne L. Hodson and her husband Laurence of North Reading, Ronald A. Frotten and his wife Jeanette of Methuen and Bernadette M. Lyle and her husband Kenneth of Wakefield. She was the sister of the late Alma Dulong and Loretta Doucette.

She is also survived by her grandchildren: Kristina, Yvette, Kerri, Shawn, Crystal, Gregory and Hakeem, as well as eight great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Frotten’s funeral was held on June 16 from the McDonald Funeral Home, and a funeral mass was held at St. Joseph’s Church in Wakefield. She was buried at the Forest Glade Cemetary.