‘Keep their light on in our world’: Daughter remembers Eastham couple who fell through ice

Local News

The couple died Feb. 14 after they fell through the ice at Bee’s River in Eastham while walking their black lab.

The daughter of an Eastham couple who died Feb. 14 after they fell through ice paid tribute to them, asking people to help others in remembrance of them.

Police identified the couple as Gerard “Jerry” Boucher, 72, and Kathleen “Kit” Boucher, 71. In a Facebook post Thursday, their daughter, Katy, shared how she would remember them.

“The irony is, if this had happened to literally anyone else in their Cape Cod community, my mom would be the one glued to the news, leaving flowers at the beach, posting a photo dedication, and coordinating the gatherings around town,” Katy Boucher said in the post. “My dad would be telling her to take a breath- but he’d be dropping donuts to the first responders when she wasn’t looking.”

The Bouchers had lived in Eastham since 2008, and they often walked their black lab along Bee’s River. At about 9 a.m. on the day they died, Eastham police responded to a call about a distressed, wet dog in the First Encounter Beach parking lot.

An officer who had arrived on the scene heard a woman — later identified as Kit Boucher — screaming for help in the area of the river. Kit had fallen through the ice about 30 feet from shore, and though officers went onto the ice in an attempt to rescue her, they were unable to save her.

About two hours later, divers from the Eastham Fire Department found her body, and she was pronounced dead. Although investigators confirmed that Jerry was with her, they were unable to find his body and called off their search efforts Tuesday.

Kit and Jerry met in high school in 1970 and married five years later, building a life together in West Hartford, Conn., according to their obituary. They became fixtures in the lives of friends and family alike.

“I am heartbroken, I am changed,” Katy Boucher said on Facebook. “I am determined to carry on their work, and keep their light on in our world.”

The Bouchers were deeply committed to giving back to their community, according to their obituary. Jerry would bring warm meals and coats to families in Hartford apartments “whose service had been disconnected,” and Kit taught kindergarten for 20 years.

Later in life, Jerry helped rebuild the Eastham community’s Council on Aging deck, and Kit became a volunteer for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the obituary said. After they died, a notebook belonging to Jerry was found in his truck; it was filled with plans to purchase beds for a local shelter.

Katy said that people can help her by donating to her parents’ foundation or bringing her a coffee “in two weeks when the outpouring quiets down.” But, taking a page from what she believed her parents would do, she also asked people to do something for others.

“Bake cookies from a mix and add almond extract and chocolate chips. Give them to the neighbor,” Katy Boucher said. “Stand at a rally for anything you believe in with a goofy homemade sign. Quietly buy a hungry person a meal. Buy a new coat and bring it to the shelter.”

Katy also shared a link to her parents’ obituary, the full text of which can be read here.

“A lot of people say a lot of nice things about most people when they die,” Katy Boucher said in the post. “Sometimes they feel a little generous- because who amongst us is actually that good? I promise you… Jerry and Kit Boucher were.”

Visiting hours for Kit and Jerry’s service will be held at St. Joan of Arc Church in Orleans on Feb. 27 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Feb. 28 beginning at 9 a.m., according to the obituary. Memorial mass will be at 11 a.m., followed by a reception; the burial will be private and take place in West Hartford at a later date.