Mr. Derek Joel Plude, of Lusby, MD, passed away on Saturday, March 28, 2015 at the age of 58.
Derek was born to parents David James Plude and Lois Marie Plude (nee Messier) on February 6, 1957, in Glens Falls, NY. He grew up in South Glens Falls, NY, as the fourth eldest of six children and attended South Glens Falls High School. In June, 1975, he enlisted in the US Army and was honorably discharged in 1978. Over the next two decades he lived in Salem, NH, and worked in the automotive industry first in sales and then as a finance manager. During this same period he battled substance abuse and addiction and associated physical and mental health issues that ultimately left him unemployed and homeless. In 1995, however, he moved to Boston, MA, where he enrolled in Narcotics Anonymous and benefitted greatly from the Veterans Administration’s support services. His commitment to sobriety ultimately paved the way for him earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2008. In 2009 he relocated to the Washington DC area where he enrolled in a Franciscan seminary but soon thereafter moved to Lusby, MD where he continued his commitment to Roman Catholicism by serving the Eucharist to shut-ins in Calvert County while battling liver disease and other physical and mental health problems. He ultimately succumbed to liver disease and kidney failure. May 2015 would have marked his twentieth year of sobriety.
Derek is survived by his mother and five siblings, Douglas Plude (and his wife Nancy), Danielle Duncan, Dana Plude (and his wife Denise), Denis Plude, and Deidre Keith (and her husband Chris) as well as eleven nieces and nephews and thirteen grand-nieces and grand-nephews.