Engineer, past owner of Friot’s Water Treatment, loving grandfather
Alan Friot. (Courtesy photo)
Alan (also known as Grandpa Alan to his family, friends, and fans) Friot died from an aggressive form of colon cancer on July 13, 2020. He did not suffer long. He passed away at home in Wells, Maine, with family by his side. He was 87.
Born in Malden on Oct. 16, 1932, Alan grew up surrounded by his mother, sister, grandparents, cousins and siblings from his father’s previous and subsequent marriages. Alan loved being with all his cousins and siblings.
After graduation from Malden High in 1950, and a year at Chauncey Hall in 1951, he went on to study electrical engineering at MIT, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1955. Alan went straight to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, from 1955 to 1959, in a group called Technical Services.
Alan married his high school sweetheart, Helen L. Reid, in 1956. They moved to Washington, D.C. for both to work at the CIA. It was a sweet time in their life with friends and their very secret work. The birth of their son Paul in 1958 brought them back to the Boston area, settling in Winchester, where they had two more children, Christopher and Suzanne. The family eventually moved to Harvard and then Groton.
Alan’s career took many turns, including building simulator cockpits for the Boeing 747. A layoff in the early ‘70s led him to get involved with water treatment. He subsequently bought the water treatment business in 1971, where he worked with his son Paul for over 45 years, retiring in December 2019.
Alan was a philosopher, poet, and a great thinker about the planets. He wrote over 2,000 poems and self-published a book, “Grandpa Alan’s Teddy Bear Poems,” an achievement that touched countless lives. Those who would stop and spend a moment or two with Alan would be exposed to his discovery about the tilt of the earth and many more aspects of our solar system. It was an uphill battle for anyone in the academic world to see his perspective, but he continued to pursue an in-depth dialogue until his death.
This was a big life lived by a man who loved performing in local musicals with his son Paul, playing bridge with his wife Helen, or cribbage with any one of his children and grandchildren. He gave everyone he met something to think about.
Alan was predeceased by his wife, Helen, in 2018, and is survived by his children: Paul and his wife Pattie of Port St. Lucie, Florida; Christopher and his wife Janet of Groton; and Suzanne L.F. Gagnon of Portland, Maine. Alan was proud of his grandchildren: Christopher A. Friot II and his wife Irie of East Boston; Jillian A. Friot of Memphis, Tennessee; and Cooper J. Gagnon of Kennebunkport, Maine. Alan was also a loving uncle to many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Southern Maine Health Care of Biddeford, Maine. Services will be private. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence, please visit Alan’s Book of Memories page at www.bibberfuneral.com.
