Obituary of Myrtle M. Chartrand

HARRISVILLE – Myrtle (Empey) Chartrand, age 85, of Carthage (formerly of Harrisville), passed away on December 8, 2015, at the Country Manor Nursing Home in Carthage. Her memorial Mass will be held on May 16, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Francis of Solanus Church in Harrisville followed by burial and then a luncheon held at the church. Arrangements are with French Funeral Home, Gouverneur. Condolences may be shared online at www.frenchfuneralhomes.com. Myrtle was born on March 19, 1930, to the late Arthur Charles and Mary (Stone) Empey in Carthage. Her mother died of typhoid fever in 1932 when Myrtle was just two years old. She was then raised by her father, her late sister Katherine Lautenschlager, late brother Edward, and her grandparents. In the summer of 1939 she moved to Natural Bridge to live with the late Paul and Cordelia Gould and family. Myrtle attended the old Carthage School through the third grade, graduated the eighth grade at the Natural Bridge Union School and from the former West Carthage High School in 1949. She went to J.C.C. for one semester in adult education. She was a 7th Degree member of the Natural Bridge Grange and was active in the Methodist Church where she was a choir member, Sunday School Superintendent, and former member of the ladies church group, W.S.C.S. Myrtle was also a former member of the "Queen Esthers" youth group. Myrtle was active in the Girl Scouts; and in 1959 with assistant leader Nancy Smith formed the first Brownie Troop in Natural Bridge where she was later leader of the Intermediate Troop. Mrs. Chartrand worked at the F. W. Woolworth Store in Carthage; the former Carbola Chemical Co., Natural Bridge; and Harrisville Manufacturing (later known as Viking Cives) in Harrisville; and the Green Thumb Program before retiring in 1992. On June 27, 1970, she married Edward E. Chartrand of Harrisville in St. Francis Solanus Church. She was a former member of the Daughters of Isabella and a communicant of St. Francis Church. Myrtle liked music, swimming, embroidering, crocheting and reading. She is survived by her stepchildren and their families, several nieces and nephews and foster siblings and their families. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Myrtle may be made to St. Francis Solanus Church of Harrisville, the Natural Bridge Methodist Church, the Harrisville Fire Department, or the American Cancer Society.