Jeanne D'Amour was a 1938 graduate of Holyoke High School and received a degree in 1940 from the Bay Path Institute, which would go on to become Bay Path College.
Gerald E. D'Amour, co-founder of Big Y Foods, right, with his wife, Jeanne. Jeanne D'Amour died Saturday at the age of 90.SOMERS, Conn. – Jeanne E. D’Amour, a philanthropist and widow of Big Y Foods Inc. co-founder Gerald E. “Gerry” D’Amour, died on Saturday.
She was 90. Funeral services were held in private at the D’Amour Chapel here.
Her husband died in August, also at the age of 90.
“Our mother was a strong, courageous woman who was grounded in her faith, her family and her community,” said her son, Charles L. D’Amour, now president and chief operating officer of Big Y. “She gave of herself completely, whether raising her six children, helping her husband, Gerald, build his business, or devoting her time and energy to her church and the many educational and civic organizations with which she was involved.”
“We will miss her but take comfort in her lasting legacy and all the ways that she has helped so many,” he said.
Gerald and his older brother, Paul H. D’Amour, founded Big Y in 1936. The company is this year marking its 75th anniversary in business.
That first 900-square-foot market was at a spot in Chicopee where two roads came together to form a “Y.” That location gave the chain its name.
Paul D’Amour died in 1991. Big Y now has 61 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut with more than 10,000 employees.
“In raising her six children, while her husband was tending to the needs of a growing supermarket business, my mother always taught us the importance of family and of giving back to our community,” Jeanne D’Amour’s daughter, Claire D’Amour-Daley, said on Wednesday.
D’Amour Daley now serves as Big Y’s head of corporate communications.
Anthony S. Caprio, president of Western New England University, recalled how Gerry D’Amour was quiet, while his wife gave voice to his thoughts.
Jeanne D'Amour“I always thought of Jeanne as being the laughter to his smile,” Caprio said. “If you ever wanted to look at a couple that was totally in synch, it was beautiful to watch.”
Jeanne D’Amour was a 1938 graduate of Holyoke High School and received a degree in 1940 from the Bay Path Institute, which would go on to become Bay Path College.
Bay Path president Carol A. Leary remembered how much Jeanne D’Amour loved her frequent luncheons with students. “She loved hearing their stories,” Leary said.
It was especially true for students who were the first women in their families to go to college or working women in Bay Path’s program of Saturday-only classes, Leary said. “She could tell the transformation that these students would undergo because of a Bay Path education,” Leary said. “She was so touched by their personal stories.”
D’Amour also loved music, according to Leary. So, the college often had a student musician perform following the meal.
D’Amour was a trustee at Bay Path from 1984 to 1994. She and her husband endowed the college’s D’Amour Hall for Business Communication and Technology.