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3.20.2003
Robert J. Croteau, 31; Great White was his favorite band
There was no bigger Great White fan than Robert J. Croteau.
If you needed proof, you could check out his album collection, every
one signed by the band. Or look through his collection of autographed
memorabilia, including guitar picks, shirts, and dozens of concert tickets.
He was on a first-name basis with the band members -- and even the lead
singer's mother.
"He died doing something he really loved," his mother, Judith,
says.
Robert, 31, had been assaulted and spent 4 1/2 months in a coma last
year. To try to bring him out of it, his family played Great White's songs
in his hospital room. One album in particular was being played a lot on
the radio at the time. It was called Recovery. When he woke up, all Robert
wanted was to hear that album.
"I tried to get him to listen to other bands, but he didn't want
to hear it," says his brother Tommy.
Robert, who grew up in Fall River and graduated from Durfee High, lived
with his parents and Tommy. For them, he was an amazing fix-it man and
housekeeper in one, happy to clean and arrange the house if anything was
out of order.
"The way he collected stuff, and cleaned and fixed everything. Things
I couldn't be bothered with, he'd do," Tommy says. And he was always
excited, whether he was watching wrestling or reruns of All in the Family.
"He acted younger than he was. He was 31, but he acted like he was
21," Tommy said.
Robert worked as a landscaper for Barnes Tree Service in Rochester, Mass.,
and for Summit Grove Landscaping in Dartmouth, Mass. In his free time,
he visited residents at the Cardinal Medeiros elder-care home in Fall
River to watch television and play bingo.
"He was just a friendly guy," his mother says. "He liked
everybody, and everybody liked him."
-- Daniel Barbarisi
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