From the moment Emile Chagnon saw her standing demurely in line at Hayward’s Ice Cream stand in 1947, Dora Louise Auger was the love of his life. “Doe” had come from Worcester, Massachusetts to study journalism at Rivier College, and Emile, a Nashua native, pursued her hopefully for the next 4 years. After college, Doe returned to Worcester to work as a reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, a job she adored, Doe married Emile in 1951 and returned with him to Nashua to make a life there. They would spend the next 65 years on a grand adventure together.
Doe was blessed with a flair for the theatrical, a gift for writing and speaking, a lovely singing voice, and a wide social circle. She loved to cook, entertain, design and decorate. She and “Chag” had the good fortune to travel widely, beginning with his two year assignment to London for the US Air Force during the Korean War. Trips around the world together would accent the next fifty years.
In Nashua, Doe would become Mrs. New Hampshire in 1955. She directed plays for the St. Francis Xavier CYO in the sixties, molding a troupe of teenaged actors into three time winners of the New England Championship for one-act plays.
In 1970, she co-founded The Nashua Theater Guild, acting and directing with an obvious love and talent for her art. In 1972, Doe joined the family business, creating a successful kitchen design center at the Chagnon Lumber Company and eventually became president of the New England Chapter of the American Institute of Kitchen Dealers.
But her passion for her own pursuits paled in comparison to the joy that Doe found in being a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. As her children grew, Doe gave them her greatest gift; a safe, happy childhood in a loving, stable and creative home. She equipped them with the education and the confidence to embrace life with vigor and compassion. For this, we, her children, will love her, will cherish her memory and will be eternally grateful.
Mom’s beautiful face, her laughter and her indomitable spirit live on through those who were privileged to know and love her.
Her family is planning a private celebration of her life.
