Aimé Breault, who co-founded the Quebec Archery Federation and spent 26 years coaching elite athletes who reached the world championships and the Olympic Games, died March 22, 2020, at the Centre d’hébergement Roland-Leclerc in Trois-Rivières at age 88, according to records published by Le Nouvelliste. He was born in 1932 and lived in Trois-Rivières with his wife, Denise Villemure. The family expressed gratitude to the entire team at the Les Érables Unit of the Centre d’hébergement Roland-Leclerc.

Founding Clubs and Training Elite Archers Across Mauricie

Breault began his involvement in the sport during the 1950s, eventually establishing the Les Archers club, which later became Le Sagittaire de Trois-Rivières. Archery officials attribute the widespread growth of the sport throughout the province largely to his efforts. Over decades in the discipline, Breault traveled extensively at his own expense to attend international training clinics, bringing modern coaching techniques back to Quebec. During the 1970s, he prepared Canadian team archers for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In the hours following his passing, Archery Quebec and the Le Sagittaire club paid tribute to him by highlighting the key achievements of his long career.

Honoring a Mauricie Sporting Legend

Jean-Pierre Lafleur, who coached athletes for decades in Mauricie through the Sport-études program at Les Estacades, recalled Breault as his first mentor in the sport. He was my first coach and I followed in his footsteps to become a coach myself, Lafleur said, as reported by Le Nouvelliste. Aimé Breault was recognized worldwide. We owe him a lot because he was a luminary. He could be stern, but he was also remarkably fair. The Quebec Archery Federation established the Aimé Breault Trophy in 2000, awarded annually to the club with the highest representation at the concentric target indoor championship. The regional archery center in Mauricie was also named in his honor by Lafleur, and Breault was inducted into the Mauricie Sports Hall of Fame.

Funeral Arrangements and Family Survivors

Survivors include his wife, Denise Villemure; his children, Michel (with Carole Lalonde) and Christian; and his grandchildren, Nicolas and Raphaëlle. He is also survived by his sisters Ghislaine (widow of Camille Bombardier) and Suzanne (with Germain Côté), his brothers-in-law and sister-in-law Roland Villemure (widower of Pierrette Raymond) and Gérard Villemure (with Monique Gauthier), along with extended family members, nephews, nieces, cousins, close friends Denis and Ginette Julien, and the Le Sagittaire Archery Club. Preceding him in death were his sisters and brothers-in-law Denise (with Réjean Brunelle) and Renée (with Léo Caouette). Due to public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, family and friends gathered under social distancing guidelines and mandatory mask-wearing at the Centre Funéraire Rousseau located at 3300 boul. des Forges in Trois-Rivières. Visiting hours were held on Saturday, July 25, from 1 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., with a liturgy of the Parole celebrated at 3 p.m. on July 25, 2020, at the funeral home’s memorial chapel, followed by an interment at St-Michel Cemetery. The ceremony was also made available via live web broadcast for those who obtained a password from the family, and expressions of sympathy could be directed as a donation to a foundation of the donor’s choice.