Hal Boudreau of Hatfield – formerly of Belchertown – Professor of Spanish at UMass Amherst, grandfather and opera fanatic, died Thursday, January 24, 2018 of complications from knee surgery.

Hal shared his intelligence, curiosity, and wit with all. His easy charm was evident early — including finding adoptive parents for himself. Hal was informed that he and his youngest sister would need to be adopted. So, in early ’31, when a couple stopped at the small farm in Ashkum, Illinois just to buy eggs, it must have been a great surprise to find three-year-old Hal in the driveway asking, ”Are you here to take me home and be my new Mommy and Daddy?” Harvey and Lucille Boudreau looked at each other for a moment, then answered “Yes, we are.”

Hal went on to be the first from his home town of Piper City, Illinois to go to college. He studied Spanish “because someone told me it was easy” – little knowing that would lead to a distinguished academic career teaching Spanish poetry, language, and literary theory.

After a year of teaching, Hal was drafted into the Korean conflict. He served as a hospital orderly and then returned to teaching in Jackson, Mississippi, where he met his future wife, Mary Scarcliff. The following year he entered graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, earning his masters’ and Ph.D.

Hal accepted an offer to teach at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1957 where he would spend his entire career including service as chairman of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for many years. Retiring in 1990, he remained active mentally and physically, pursuing his loves of gardening and opera, and studying everything from physics to history to politics.

He is survived by his son Tim, also of Hatfield, daughter-in-law Christy Boudreau, and grandson Jack, 3, with whom he lived and delighted in these last two and a half years.

Never one to want a “fuss” there will be a gathering for Hal at Douglass Funeral Home in downtown Amherst on Wednesday, January 30 at 11AM, followed by a lunch for friends.