LANGLAIS

COVENTRY — Gerard A. Langlais Sr., 77, a retired general contractor, drowned Wednesday after he apparently fell out of his canoe while fishing on the Wood River in Hopkinton, authorities said yesterday.

Langlais, who had operated Gerard A. Langlais and Son for 38 years, left his house at 9:30 a.m. for a favorite fishing spot, family members said. When he had not returned by dusk, his wife, Simone, became concerned and called her children.

Richard Langlais headed to the river, found his father’s vehicle parked by the shore near Route 3 and saw the empty canoe entangled in brush a few hundred yards away, the state police said. He called 911 at about 7:30 p.m. and troopers and firefighters responded and recovered the elder Langlais’ floating body a few minutes later.

After an autopsy yesterday, the state medical examiner’s office concluded that Langlais had drowned but did not suggest what caused him to fall into the water.

Family members gathered yesterday in the Langlais home, at 1542 Main St.

Simone Langlais, Gerard’s wife of 56 years, said her husband continued to fish although he had not been in the best of health in recent years.

Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, two sons and six grandchildren. A third son, also Gerard, with whom he was in the construction business, died in July 2002 at the age of 46.

Daughter Claudette Tourgee said her father was a “man’s man” who enjoyed the outdoors. She recalled that he traditionally took annual hunting trips with her brothers — Gerard, Richard and Bernard — to Nova Scotia and Maine.

“He was a good father. He was very loving,” Tourgee said, holding back tears.

lsparks@projo.com