Obituary of Raymond P. Fleureau

Raymond P. Fleureau, age 92, of Medford died peacefully Saturday, June 24, 2023.  Raymond was born June 9, 1931 in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

He was a hard-working man of faith who sacrificed in every way to help his wife, children, and future generations experience the American dream.

He met and married the love of his life, Helsy Dupont Fleureau at a tourist shop in Port-Au-Prince. He was a tour guide and she a sales clerk. After a short courtship they were married on December 18, 1954. They welcomed their first child, Maryse, just nine months later. She was followed by sister, Yanick, and brothers, Raymond and Guy.

On September of 1963, after experiencing the violence and oppression of the Duvalier regime, he was able to secure an emergency visa to immigrate to the United States. Unable to bring his wife or children, he left with only $200 dollars in his pocket and a phone number of a family friend.

Through sheer determination, and the grace of God, he learned the language, found work, secured housing, and was able to finally send for his wife a year later in September 1964. Once reunited, they both worked diligently to secure the finances to bring their four children safely home to the U.S..  It took three more years before they were all able to call Kew Gardens home. Always striving to help others, he subsequently sponsored several family members as they applied for residency to escape the dictatorship in Haiti.

Raymond and Elsie outgrew their city life and moved out to Long Island in 1987. Five grandchildren later, Raymond retried as a stationary engineer in 1997.  He spent his retirement traveling to and from Florida and France and enjoying the company of his grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, Helsy Fleureu, their four children, Maryse and her husband Kenneth Kocher, Yanick and her husband Edmund Chin-Sang, Raymond and his wife Marisol, and Guy and his wife, Perla, his five grandchildren, Christine Acevedo, Stephanie Marchant, Phillip Kocher, Eric Chin-Sang and Patrick Kocher, and his six great-grandchildren, Nolan Acevedo, Aria Acevedo, Owen Kocher, Claire Marchant, Nora Kocher, and Max Marchant.

Visiting hours will be on Friday, June 30, 2023 from 3:00 - 7:00PM at McManus-Lorey Funeral Home, 2084 Horse Block Road, Medford, NY.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, July 1, 2023 at St. Sylvester R.C. Church, 68 Ohio Avenue, Medford, NY.  A private cremation will follow the funeral mass.  Raymond’s inurnment will be at a later date in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.