Philip Albert Brousseau Sr.

Mr. Philip Albert Brousseau Sr., 97, of Edgefield , World War II veteran and professional bird dog trainer, died Thursday, Sept. 17, at his residence.
The family received visitors at his home on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Mr. Brousseau was born in Attleboro, Mass., and moved to Kline, S.C. around 1938. There, he professionally trained bird dogs and began competing in field trials until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. he served in the 753rd Tank Battallion, Company B, as a platoon sergeant, fought in Sicily, Naples, Foggia, Rome, Arno, Southern France and Rhine Land, and was awarded a Purple Heart Medal.

After the war, he returned to his bird dog training in Kline. He married Phyllis Preston of Massachusetts in 1948. For many years, he spent summers on the prairies of Saskatchewan training his dogs, and then competing in the major circuit field trials in the fall and winter. He achieved a great deal of success in the bird dog profession, and during the early 1960s, was considered to be one of the top bird dog trainers in the United States.

He developed four champions, two amateur champions, and many other top winning dogs through the years. In the late 1960s, he moved to Edgefield and joined the Savannah River Valley Beagle Club in Edgefield, and had four beagle champions and other winning dogs. He stayed active with his dogs well into his eighties.

He was named Sportsman of the Year by the Augusta Chronicle in 1962, named to the S.C. Field Trial Hall of Fame in 2001, was awarded a Life Patron Membership to the Bird Dog Foundation, and has been featured in The American Field, South Carolina Wildlife, and many other newspapers.

He is survived by his son Philip and daughter-in-law Sheryl; stepdaughter, Linda Blair; three grandchildren, Adrian Brousseau, Rebecca Joye and Alyce Golderer; three great-grandchildren, Christian and Andrew Brousseau, and Alynah Brown; six sisters, Olive Prunier, Oxford, Mass., Fran Pimentel, Hampton Falls, N.H., Catherine Manning, Brentwood, N.H., Leona Waterman, Hooksett, N.H., Doris Brousseau, Wendall Depot, Mass., and Edna Bryan, Louiston, Maine; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife Phyllis; and four brothers, Omer, Louis, Lawrence and Earnest Brousseau.
Memorials may be made to the Hospice and Palliative Foundation, 110 Dillon  Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29307.