Omer P Landry -- Cumberland

Cumberland

Omer Philip Landry, a lifetime educator and a high school basketball coach who led the smallest school in Rhode Island to a championship, died in Wolfeboro, N.H., on Nov. 1st after battling a heart condition for several years. He was 68.

He was born Sept. 27, 1941 in Pawtucket, R.I., to Omer and Margaret Landry of Central Falls, R.I. He was married to Rosemary Kiernan of Lincoln, R.I., on June 26, 1965 in Pawtucket, R.I.

Mr. Landry graduated from Saint Raphael Academy in Pawtucket in 1959. He graduated from Providence College in 1963 with a degree in political science. He later earned a master’s degree in education. Mr. Landry played on the Providence College basketball team for one year. His college career was cut short by injury.

Mr. Landry was appointed head basketball coach of Sacred Heart Academy in Central Falls in 1966 at 24 years old. He was also head coach of the track team and taught world history, law and sociology.

His father, Omer, who was a high school coaching legend in Central Falls, played football and baseball at Providence College in the 1930s and was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.

At just 26, Mr. Landry coached the “Beavers” to the state crown in 1968, completing the season with a 20-3 record. “These kids of mine worked hard all season and knew how to come through under pressure,” Mr. Landry said in the March 11, 1968 edition of the Pawtucket Times, two days after defeating LaSalle Academy 55-53 for the title in front of a crowd of 3,300 at Providence College Alumni Hall.

“He was a master basketball strategist,” says Peter Dube, his assistant coach. “Sacred Heart was a school of 200 boys and for such a small school to beat some of the large Providence schools was quite an accomplishment.”

After Sacred Heart closed its doors in 1970, Mr. Landry coached basketball and taught at Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, R.I., and then Cranston High School West. Mr. Landry remained at Cranston West, teaching history, until he retired in 2000. His passion for the subject influenced many of his students over his nearly 40 years in front of the chalk board.

“Dear Mr. Landry, this is a letter to let you know you changed my life,” one of his students wrote in 2006. “I am currently in my second year at Suffolk [University] Law [School]. Thank you for inspiring me to love history, to live a life in perspective of the past, and to share that knowledge with others.”

While not teaching or coaching, Mr. Landry operated a summertime ice cream business – the “Polar Dairy” – in Onset, Mass.

Mr. Landry lived in Cumberland, R.I., on Hillside Road for much of his life. He attended St. John Vianney Church on Diamond Hill Road in Cumberland. After retirement, he moved to Wolfeboro, where he enjoyed cross-country skiing and boating.

Mr. Landry served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

He is survived by his former wife, Rosemary Kiernan Landry of Meredith, N.H.; two sons, Kevin, of North Falmouth, Mass., and Christopher, of Sarasota, Fla.; and one daughter, Jennifer of Bethel, Maine; three sisters, Mary Mercier of West Yarmouth, Mass., Paula O’Reilly of Cumberland, R.I., and Barbara Triassi of Pawtucket, R.I.; and one brother, John Landry of Mayfield Village, Ohio; grandchildren Jack, Addison, Nicholas, Will, Samantha, Joey, Sophie, Emme, Julia, Alexis, and Corliss. He is predeceased by his other brother, David Landry, who lived in Woonsocket, R.I.

His funeral will be held on Friday at 8:30 am from the Lincoln Funeral Home, 1501 Lonsdale Ave., Lincoln with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in Our Lady of Consolation Church, Broadway, Pawtucket. Burial will be in Mt. St. Mary’s Cemetery, Pawtucket. Calling hours are Thursday from 5-8 pm.

Reported: 11/03/09 (Show all obituaries for this day)

By: Lincoln Funeral Home Inc. (Show all obituaries and information about this funeral home)

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