A much more pleasant experience was when my sister Clara and her husband Louis invited Therese and me to spend some time with them in Flin Flon. To begin to understand and appreciate this experience, you have to cast your mind back to approximately 1935 or 1936. It had been just a few years before that the teacher at school, when hearing what she was quite sure was the noise of a plane, hurriedly cleared the school and told us to look up in the sky, for what to about 99% of us would be seeing a plane for the first time. And perhaps just a year or two before that, on a Saturday evening, our family went to Mr. Clar-ence Smith's place via sleigh and horses to listen to the radio for the first time and, of course, heard the Amos and Andy program. So yes, our trip to Flin Flon was very memorable. The warn-ings we had, to stay together and to be careful, soon became more meaningful as we boarded the train for our first time in the wee hours of the morning, with all the commotion of a busy trans-fer point, different types of people - lumber-jacks, trappers, Indians - people talking loudly, quietly, sleeping, snoring, smoking; the aisles full of feet, arms, legs and packsacks. The quiet commotion at what seemed to be bush stops, with a hectic commotion at La Pas, the worry of would someone be at the Flin Flon station to meet us and then getting there ... the end of the line and everyone going into action. Needless to say, it was exciting but also created some apprehension until Clara came to the rescue.


Back home, and during the summer, Mom had to go to La Pas for an operation. As it happened, it was a particularly dry summer and there were fires all over and ground fires were part of the problem. Actually, we had some ground fires at home close to Morrison's but they seemed to be at a standstill. As I recall, Gene was away fighting fires so that left Martin, Therese, Mae and me at home. A short time later, however, the fires supposedly got worse and Martin said he also had to go and fight fires. I think it had something to do with the fire starters working more efficiently than the fire fighters!!! So now, being the oldest at home, I thought the proper thing to do was to assure Mom that all was well, so wrote her a letter giving her all the details. Guess what, not too many days later, Mom was back home.


A few years later, I think Gene was working in lumber camps with our main horses and Martin was out working someplace else, so that only left us with Old Nigger at home, an old black horse who you could say was semi-retired. However, the sleighs were equipped for team use, so I paired Old Nigger with our young Bull and so, I also had a team that winter to do the odd job on weekends. When I reflect on this now, I can't help but think that Old Nigger must have been very insulted.


The following goes back to when we lived on the original farm south of the school and Gene, Martin and I used to sleep in a big double bed. To have more room, I used to sleep in the centre but my head at the foot of the bed. Well, every few nights I used to hear Gene and Martin make a noise as though they were eating, so would ask them if I could have some of what they were eating. They always replied that they were not eating, they were just chewing their cud. Even though I was only 5 or 6, I never did believe them and it was only years later that they finally admitted that, yes, they had been eating.


On to Ontario. But before I go into any detail, I'd just like to say a few words here about our mother who, for all intents and purposes, had brought up six children, during what was likely the worst economic period in Canada's young life and decided that if we, the children, were to have a chance that she had to expose us to a situation that did not necessarily guarantee something better, but that at least there was the potential of something better and, for this, I will be forever grateful.


When I heard of the impending move, I was excited because what I had learned about Ontario in school, which was likely very little in relation to the overall, I liked. Besides, I suppose I was at an ideal age, too young to understand all the ramifications, but old enough to imagine all the new and different things that we would see and experience. Because of my age, I was not involved with the nuts and bolts of the necessary planning but it's not too difficult to imagine that major planning and gut-wrenching decisions would have been inevitable. With the financial situation of the day, the time of year with regard to weather, and getting the car and trailer out to travelable roads, required luck, yes. For example, bad snow storms, but more importantly it required an abundance of strength, courage and astuteness.


Finally, the day came to move the car and trailer out. Luckily, Joe Dupont of Wynyard, Saskatchewan, who had come north in the fall to work in bush camps with his horses, was leaving Hudson Bay to go back before the spring break-up. So, in that way the old '27 Chevrolet, which had split tire rings, and trailer were brought out of Hudson Bay, south I think to Sturgis, or thereabouts, where Gene had it stored until we were already to go and came back home.


A few weeks later the final departure was set and it was decided that Gene, Martin and I would take a freight (ride the rods) to where the car was and drive from there to Wynyard, Joe Dupont's home, where we would meet Mom, Therese and Mae, who came out by train with a number of trunks and boxes. After a few days of car and trailer packing, we set out in earnest for our first target, which was Oklee, Minnesota, where Mom, Dad, George and Gene had originally come from as a young family. The rest of the family was born in Saskatchewan. However, before getting to Oklee, we had what you could call a tire shake-down and had up to 13 flats in one day. The reason for the tire trouble was due to the Depression. With the resultant lack of money, lack of use by the people we bought the car from and so tire rot. Tires were not bought in Canada because they were cheaper in the States. And so, with more time than money, split rims, three pairs of hands, we became tire changing experts. But, like the old story goes, there's always something good with something bad, because when we got to the States and all the tires were replaced, it made all of us quite happy.


We then stayed around Oklee for about two months and met all our local uncles, aunts, cous- ins and many of Mom's old friends. We then left on the last, but much longer, part of our journey to somewhere in the southern part of Ontario.


Some of the highlights along this part of the trip were:


Chicago, Illinois, where we parked the trailer and went on to the Chicago Zoo nearby, where we saw animals that we had heard and read about, plus so many more animals, birds, etc., etc., etc. - from Veillardville to Chicago in a couple of months is simply impossible to describe here.


At the end of the day, we went back to get the trailer but, lo and behold, there was no trailer to be found - can you imagine the concern and anxiety? All our clothes, a big supply of food, all gone. Well, after driving around, a police cruiser stopped us, found out what we were looking for and then took us to where they had taken it. However, on sizing the situation up, they then took us or directed us to a park where they said it would be safe to park for the night.


Shortly after leaving Illinois, we stopped at the Indiana Sand Dunes in the State of Indiana and saw more sand than I had ever seen before, or since.


The next highlight that comes to mind is arriving at the Burlington Lift-Bridge which parts in the centre and has hinges at each end. As we were approaching the bridge, it was on its way up and we finally came to approximately two blocks length from it before we had to stop. After sitting there a few minutes, we then saw the biggest ship we had ever seen, inching its way through the canal (which joins Hamilton Bay to Lake Ontario), passing the bridge and then, finally, the bridge coming down and letting us go on our way. Our trip to Niagara Falls from the bridge ran through the heart of what is called the Niagara Peninsula which is known as Ontario's fruit belt. In those days, the highway passed near the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment and in and out of fruit orchards. Here we were from Veillardville, Saskatchewan, in the midst of apples, pears, peaches, grapes, cherries and then, lo and behold, Niagara Falls there in front of us.


Then we were on the Maid of the Mist, a sight-seeing boat that takes people for a ride on the river at the foot of the Falls where you hear the thunderous noise of the Falls. Then, perhaps the highlight of highlights, approximately 100 feet under the Falls and looking out from three different portholes, one at the immediate edge of the Falls and two more further in and coming out directly under the Falls. No, it wasn't a miracle, but neither was it a mirage, but it was 1937 and I think and hope that to our dying days we can and will be always grateful to our mother for not waiting for the above to happen, but actually and personally MAKING it happen.


After Niagara Falls, and considering the time of year it was, it was time to turn our attention to the purpose for which we had come East. And gradually we started working our way towards the tobacco areas of Ontario which, in the main, are Simcoe, Delhi, Tillsonburg and, to a lesser extent, Aylmer -- all within perhaps 60 miles on Highway #3, approximately 10 to 20 miles north of Lake Erie. However, this wasn't an easy task because there was only one car and a number of quiet young people and no home that could be used as a home base. The potential was there if all hands could be put to use and, with Mom's ingenuity, needless to say this did come about. First Ma found a place where she, Therese, Mae and I could not only work together but also could live where we worked. Then Martin and Gene found work nearby so the car was available and we were on our way. We were working approximately 10 miles out of Tillsonburg so, on rainy days, Ma and Gene went into town, found and bought a lot, and shortly after a home was on its way. When the harvest was over, we moved into our house which was not much more than a shell, and Therese and Mae started school. I was 14, but too shy to go, so got various odd jobs until late fall when the tobacco factory opened up. I think it took a while to get in there because I was young, small and shy.


However, after a month or so of not getting in, my friend (his name was John Phur) who had recently come from Estevan, Saskatchewan, and I decided that if we couldn't get in through the front door, what did we have to lose by trying the back door?


This factory hired about 500 people during the fall and winter months and the men worked in groups of about 15, each man with a stall or box about 2½ feet square and 10 inches deep in a long straight row, side by side, so if they hired, they would hire 15 at a time. If they hired it would be from approximately 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. but you never knew when, so the earlier you came, the closer one would be to the door, but there would always be perhaps 50 to 200 men standing around waiting.


The superintendent that did the hiring was a big, 6 foot plus, southern man and he would come out and scan the crowd and point to faces he recognized and beckon them to come with one finger. After running out of recognizable faces, he would then say, "You, you, you" until he had his count but sometimes an extra one or two would manage to squeeze by. Being that we had a rough idea of the layout and what went on inside, we went around to the Shipping/Receiving doors where there were always truck drivers around and got in and then went further in among large tobacco hogsheads (barrels) 4 to 5 feet high, 5 to 6 feet across and used them to keep out of sight, and to find out where the stalls were that were going to be filled, so that when the 15 men came thundering through to the area, we could join in the rush and get ourselves a stall. And this is exactly what happened. The problem, though, was that there were two men too many so when Old Black got there and saw this, he stopped near the end of the stalls and eyed his way along. When he got to me, his glance slowed down because I was short, small and young, but what I read in his eyes was, if he was smart enough to get in here and get a stall, he deserves a chance to keep it. Fortunately, I was able to stay until the plant closed in the spring.


Along with other short-term jobs in the area, an interesting one was where Martin and then I worked in Woodstock, a machine shop where the regular night shift hours, which we worked, were from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. (13 hours) and every second Saturday night off. I think I made 10¢ an hour and Martin about 50% more. I stayed here for about six months, then moved to Hamilton where the war industry was revving up and paying much better and with better working conditions.


Then my three years and a bit in the Service which took me from Toronto (where I entered the Service) to St. John's, Newfoundland, on the east to Victoria on the west, where I spent one winter, seeing snow one night for about half an hour while on the way back to the ship from a dance. Getting up the next morning for Mass, the snow had disappeared and that was the snow for me that winter. Eventually, I was sent back to Toronto for discharge and, while there, met a beautiful and enchanting girl at a dance at The Knights of Columbus Hall in Toronto. Her name was Helen Tapper and she subsequently, perhaps a year and a bit later, became my wife on June 26, 1947.


Helen had been in the Air Force for a little over three years and after discharge had come to Toronto to live with her oldest and married sister. But they had both originally come from Torbay, a small town just east of St. John's, Newfoundland.


After our marriage we lived in Toronto for about five years on St. Clair Avenue West, near Avenue Road, in a house that was subsequently sold. Shortly after our leaving, it was demolished along with a number of other houses, and Imperial Oil built their new head office on the site.


While we only lived here, on St. Clair Avenue West, for five years we have many memorable memories to recall. As a starter, it was our first home which we moved into on returning from our honeymoon. A bed-sitting room and a shared kitchen, and Paul was born here November 3, 1949. While here, I worked for the Toronto Transportation Commission (T.T.C.) driving streetcars, city buses and, on weekends, for the Gray Coach Lines (which was and still is owned by the T.T.C.) on intercity runs, for over three years.


In 1952 we moved to Brampton, Ontario, where I worked for a flexible metal corrugated and interlocking hose and expansion joint manufacturer, whose products are used to absorb and control pipeline and metal ducting motion, due to thermal growth and mechanically induced vibration, such as on a compressor. Sizes ranged from 3/16 inch to 11 feet inside diameter and up to 11 x 28 feet on rectangular inside dimensions.


Being in sales, it afforded me the opportunity to speak with and visit with a wide range of people in the steel, forestry, mining, chemical, and all types of manufacturing ranging from railroad locomotives and aircraft to plastics. Actually, in one case, one of the larger com-


panies, due to an emergency situation, chartered a plane, came and picked me up and, after meet-ing with plant manager, engineering manager, maintenance superintendent and purchasing manager, I inspected an old expansion joint installation in a 60-inch pipeline about 60 feet above ground. After another meeting as to what we could do for them and getting their okay to proceed, they had the same charter return me home. Then, after almost 23 years, this all came to an end. And, after a few additional years in the workplace, both Helen and I retired in September 1981.


Since then we have been fortunate in having been able to elude our cold and snowy winters and fortunate in being able to visit with our four daughters and their children who are living in and around Brampton. Darlene and Tom Kirwin with daughter, Amber Skye, live in Limehouse about 25 miles west of Brampton. Susan and Terry Marks with sons, Raymond and Jason, live in Brampton. Carolanne and Bob White with daughters, Rachelle and Jasmine, live just out of Norval, about halfway between Limehouse and Brampton. Paulette is at university but lives in Brampton when at home. Paul and Anna Marie, with Sheena and Marc, have been in Winnipeg since 1983. We now call Hamilton our home, but spend a lot of time visiting around.


Paul and Anna Marie were married June 3, 1978. Their children are Sheena Mary born Janu-ary 11, 1980 and Marc Raymond born September 10, 1982.


In early October 1983, they moved to Win-nipeg where Paul is Executive Director for Man-itoba Labour Education Centre. Anna Marie works as a technician for Xerox Canada. Sheena is in Grade 2.


Tom was a part-time Wilderness Survival Instructor and I was a student in his course. We hit it off right from the start. We were married on September 19, 1981 in Vancouver, B.C. in the midst of our six month tour of Canada.


After our tour we lived outside Brampton, Ontario, on a farm with our rabbits, goats, chickens, turkeys and pigs. In the midst of all this menagerie, who should enter our lives but our precious daughter, Amber-Skye . Her day is April 29, 1983.


Now, with Amber-Skye at three and a half years of age, we live in our own home right across the street from the Bruce Trail (a 700-mile hiking trail across southern Ontario). We are in the tiny hamlet of Limehouse, Halton Hills, eighteen miles from Brampton.


This summer we are building a 500 square foot addition on our home and are finding it an interesting, if not exhausting, experience. Tom works at Carlton Cards, Brampton. Yes, that is the company that sells greeting cards and wrapping paper. He enjoys his job as a maintenance craftsperson, always performing a new job every day.


I have managed to stay home with Amber-Skye by holding down three part-time jobs. Monday through Friday, I drive a school bus with Amber-Skye as the cheerful bus entertainer. Saturdays are spent working for a courier company, Purolator Courier, as a supervisor. I'm also a Childbirth Educator, teaching prenatal classes out of our home one or two evenings a week.


All in all, we are very content and happy with our lives and hope our serenity lasts for years to come.


Terry and I were high school sweethearts and were married February 22, 1974.


In January of 1975 Terry became a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and we had a brief three months stay in Regina. The rest of our time has been spent in Brampton, Ontario. Terry enjoys his work with the Mounties performing various investigations into fraud, Mafia connections and drugs.


For myself, I was able to stay home with our two children by driving a school bus and letting, first Raymond, and then Jason, act as my navigators on the bus. I also work part-time for the Liquor Control Board. With both boys in school now, I have just started working full-time as a dispatcher for the School Bus Company and am enjoying the challenge.


Raymond , born September 20, 1974, is now a twelve-year-old sportsman playing hockey and soccer, and swimming. He has an avid interest in nature and his room is a reflection of the outdoors.


Jason , born June 25, 1976, is also interested in sports, being a hockey enthusiast, primarily. Jason enjoys good adventure stories and can gobble up a good book on a lazy afternoon.


Within the next few years, Terry is hoping for a teaching job in the shooting range at the Depot. So, I guess, in time, we will know our future.


It was a happy August 4, 1978, when the first granddaughter, Rachelle, was born into Joe and Helen Lessard's family.


Rachelle, my daughter, and I made a home together and were living quite happily.


While working as a librarian at Sheridan College, I met my future husband, Robert White. For Rachelle and Rob it was love at first sight. Due to technical difficulties, Rob and I could not be married right away. We made house together and were blessed with the arrival of Jasmine on June 1, 1982. Rachelle was thrilled to have a younger sister. Finally, the day came when Rob and I could wed. We were joined in matrimony in a small country church Aloa.


Rob is still at Sheridan College and has a bright future there. I have stayed at home to raise my two lovely daughters. I drove a bus for Brampton Transit this summer and am hoping to return full-time when possible.


Rachelle is a bright eight year old and is involved in Brownies. She also plays T-ball in the summer. She was awarded the "Most Sportsman Like Player" trophy in the league this summer.


Jasmine has just started Junior Kindergarten and is very industrious. She also played T-ball this summer. Her team placed first and Jasmine received her first trophy.


We are presently waiting for our first home to be built. We hope to move in by spring.


Graduated from nursing in June 1985 and was chosen as Class Valedictorian for the graduating class.


Presently attending Brock University, in my third year of studies. My previous two years of university were taken in Nova Scotia.


My initial goal is to obtain my Education degree. Then, using both my nursing and teaching, would like to tutor at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.


an hour so I decided to work there. However, this job meant working eleven-hour days, six days a week and, as I was only seventeen, I became very tired physically. About this time, I decided to join up as soon as I was eighteen, which I did.


I was in the Air Force for three and a half years and received 90¢ a day when I first joined up. I was stationed in Ottawa at headquarters, three different times. Other places where I was sent were Yorkton, Saskatchewan; Mountainview near Trenton, Ontario; Dunville which isn't far from Hamilton; MacDonald, Manitoba, which is close to Portage La Prairie; then back to Trenton, Ontario, which was another provincial headquarters for the Air Force at the time when I joined up. I worked as a clerk-typist in the headquarters orderly room. I had taken a typing and record keeping course in Tillsonburg - part business college, then later a two-month refresher course in the Air Force.


I think there were about 18,000 women in the Air Force. The Army had more, while the Navy had less.


When I was stationed in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, I managed to go home to the farm once. I showed up in uniform at a dance in the Veillardville hall. The Bentley girl from Etomami also was in the service.


Following my discharge, I took a hair dressing course, passed first in the class and, to this day, have never worked a day at it. It was a course paid for by the Government. Although I discovered I didn't like this kind of work, I did complete my course for, when I start something, I finish it.


Back when I was doing war work, I worked and chummed with Rita MacFarlane. I met all the MacFarlane family except for one of her brothers who was at sea. I first met Al at his parents' home in Hamilton. He had just returned from five and a half years of sea time in the Navy. Al and I were married in 1947 and proceeded to have a family. We had six children -- three boys and three girls.


There were difficult and trying times through these years. I always worked between pregnancies, mainly in sales - drugstores and department stores. Then I began the film run which meant that I travelled to different drugstores picking up their customers' films; then I shipped the films by bus to the developing studios at a plant. I picked them up one day and delivered the finished prints the following day. I started out earning $25 a week and when I quit, I was making $200 a week. I built this film run from 15 stores to about 40. I had help from my boys, Tim and Bob.


While I was doing the film run I heard about these Junior B hockey tickets that people got conned into buying. They needed to be delivered so I worked that in with my film run.


Then I worked for the Dominion Bureau of Statistics for seven years. That was a part-time job as well. That paid about $100 a month. You worked your own hours; some days I only worked three hours, some days four hours. I got mileage for the car which helped pay for the film run.


Then I started to work at Dominion Foundries and Steel. I worked three eight-hour shifts. For three years I had the three jobs going. I didn't have much time to relax, working eighteen hours a day. I had a very good housekeeper during these years. Later I began to work full-time and, at this time, I have put in twenty-one years at Dominion Foundries and Steel.


I belong to the Air Force Girls Club in Hamilton and so I see many of my old wartime friends. We have celebrated our 50th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.


Financially, things got better for me. I think I was the first person in Ontario to get a personal bank loan without a co-signer -- as a separated woman with no other income. Many other banks had turned me down but the Bank of Nova Scotia said, "We do not give loans to women but we'll try it." I got $4,500 and I paid it off in about a year and a half. I still have the letter they sent me stating I had paid the loan off ahead of time ... "Thank you very much and if you ever need money again, contact us." It was a very nice letter. Also, I still have a letter from the head of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. I had quit them about three times but they kept sending me the work because I worked a lot with foreign people and they couldn't get women to do this who enjoyed it. I knew twelve women in Hamilton who started and quit. I was the only one (that I knew) who ever got a letter from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics.


Living in Veillardville as a little girl, I walked three miles from the north place to school. Mae and I rode a horse in the spring when it was flooding. The water must have been up to my chin. We left the horse across the road in the barn at Mr. and Mrs. Alain's. Paul Alain would clean up the manure for me but wouldn't for Piolats which made them so mad.


My first teacher was Nellie Barteluk. She had forty plus children up to grade eight. One teacher's name was Mr. Roy, another's was Arthur Villeneuve and my last was Phillippe Le Scelleur. I remember the Christmas concerts as being really good ones. Mom used to make a lot of the costumes.


My mother made a living for herself and her children by taking in sewing, and selling cream and eggs. I remember one day Joe and I getting a good licking because we were behind the barn making mud pies in our stepfather's snuff boxes and putting real eggs in the mud pies.


My own father died seven months before I was born. My mother married Louis Strasser whom I called Dad. I knew his sons. The oldest one was Albert; he stayed with me while he got his grade thirteen. He then joined the Air Force. His flying career lasted only three or four years; then he was killed in action. Louis had another son, Michael, who was accidently killed in a stone quarry.


When Brenda, my youngest, was two years of age, I experienced difficult times. Finally, I left Al. There was a lot of hard work supporting and caring for six children. Gradually things got better. Then I was left a sum of money from an aunt of Al's and when I received it, it provided us with a real boost and I've never looked back.


Bob , my oldest child, was born on our first wedding anniversary in 1948. He stayed at home while he went to university. He got his M.A. and he now works for the Province of Ontario teaching mentally retarded adults. His wife, Diane, is a French and English teacher. They reside in Toronto, Ontario.


My second child, Pamela , married Tim Fell and they have two children: Michelle, born in 1968 and Maxwell, born in 1973. They are separated and Pam lives in Vancouver, B.C.


My third – a son – Ross , is single as is Theresa . Stuart is in sales and is not married. The youngest, Brenda , is twenty-two and is married to Dwaine Wright. They have a son, Kristopher, and a little girl, Sarah. They live in Vancouver as do Ross, Theresa and Stuart. Al is also in Vancouver.


In the coming months, I plan to quit my job and take an early retirement. For the past few years I have been working two eight-hour shifts; as well, my health has not been good since I had back surgery for a ruptured disk in '75.


Recently, I purchased a van and I hope to travel. It would be nice to see Canada in short trips and to spend the winters in the south - Florida in particular.


[Ed.'s Note: Therese is presently living in Vernon, B.C.]


My parents, Louis and Rachel, were married August 13, 1927. She wore a green gown which, she used to tell me, was understood at that time that if you wore green, you were ashamed to be seen. You see, Mom was considered an outcast in Delmas, Saskatchewan, because she didn't wear the widow's weeds and remarried much too soon after her first husband, Joe Lessard, had died. He died May 1, 1924.


I was born May 15, 1928, nine months and two days after my parents' marriage. I was born in Veillardville in our log house. It burned down five years later. It was on the site of Gene and Edithe Lessard's present farm home.


I was born with a veil over my face (which meant being born with the placenta over your face). There was an old wives' tale that a baby born with this meant "there was something special about the child." My mother always said one reason she married my father was to have me! When my father found out my mother was pregnant, he didn't like the idea of being a father and couldn't accept the responsibility. He also thought the shock of her being pregnant from the beginning of their marriage would be very difficult for the French - Canadian relatives to accept. He gave her money and sent her to Tisdale to see a doctor about terminating the pregnancy. Well, she went to Tisdale and went on a shopping spree, having a good time instead - obviously that's why I'm still here.


My father left when I was about two years of age. I remember a Mr. Zulov. I've seen a picture of him holding me as a baby and somehow he figured in my very early years. He lived with us, most likely as our hired man. At that time my Uncle Julius also lived with us and his wife, Hettie, too. Uncle Julius was Dad's younger brother. He was a very fine musician and well trained. He played the accordian and also built pipe organs.


I was told about an accident I had when I was very young. When I was nine months old, my older sister Clara bathed me, then sat me on the oven door. It was hot as my mother had opened it only minutes before. She was going to bake bread and was ready to put the loaves in but because the oven was too hot, she opened the door to cool it off a bit. There I sat screaming - my sister was only eight years older than I. My mother grabbed me and the skin from my bottom was left on the oven door. Clara looked after me lots and was like a mother to me. She's always been very special to me.


One of my earliest bedtime memories was the sound of "Grandpa" Alain and my father tapping checkers as they played into the night.


Then the "once only" time they both swore they killed a moose in our backyard, on the farm where Gene and Edithe still live. They both were so sure each had killed it that they dug until they found both bullets - in the same hole! That was the topic of many conversations for quite some time.


Alma and Henry Alain, whom I called Grandma and Grandpa, were my godparents and every May 15, I was summoned to Grandma's bedside to receive my annual handkerchief. She never forgot!


As my father had left home when I was quite young, Grandpa Alain took his place in my heart. He was always very special to me and I loved to hear him sing as he came up behind me, "Elle est frisée comme un mouton." The last time I heard this was in Saskatoon when I was about seventeen years old.


I remember we lived in Hudson Bay one winter and that spring we moved to the North Place. I'll never forget it - there was a high ridge on which we planned to build and a creek on the lower land. We were living in some granaries down below the creek. One of those days in 1934, May 1st, Mom heard all these happy screams and laughter and she couldn't understand what was going on. The creek had overflowed onto the meadow and, when she looked, she saw me flapping around in the water in my underpants. It was such a nice warm spring day! I'll never forget this. And that was the spring I celebrated my sixth birthday.


Also at that time we prepared to build a two-storey house on the high ridge about one-half mile east of the granaries we were living in. A Belgian carpenter worked for us building the new house which we lived in until 1938 when we moved down East.


Mother had a great interest in school, obviously, with having six children. When I was a preschooler, a teacher named Nellie Barteluk boarded with us. This was quite natural for Mom for when she was a child, her parents had also boarded teachers in their home in the United States.


One night during the time we boarded the teacher, Bertha Alain came to spend the night with Clara and, when they began to take off their clothes for bed, my mother noticed lice on them. Their slips were full of these little crawling crea-


tures, so she began to look closely at the rest of their clothes: they, too, were covered. She then combed their hair with special combs and kerosene. The girls had picked up the lice at school.


Louis, my father, helped to build White Poplar School #4269 where I started grade one. I went with Therese and Joe, the only two going from our family by the time I started. We walked, as the school was only a half mile from home. I can't remember my first teacher's name but I do recall one teacher, Mildred Beaudoin, from Leask who was a very nice lady. I also had a man who was said to be a teacher but later it was learned that he was not. Then there was Mr. Phillippe Le Scelleur who was marvelous and was a real teacher. He was the one I remember the best. He taught me until we left in 1938.


In the early part of '37 Clara and Louis planned their marriage. Preparations for the wedding seemed to take weeks. At the time we had a hired man, Anton Buey. He built book shelves which divided the living room. The shelving unit had glass doors and fancy posts. When he finished building it, Anton stained it. The rest of us worked hard at getting the house ready - painting and cleaning. We also made lots and lots of jellied salads for the wedding supper.


Now, while everyone was at the church, Anton stayed home. When we arrived back at the farm, we found Anton had drunk all the turpentine and picked off a lot of the beads on the wedding cake. The cake was a beautiful three-layered square with a little fence around each layer. Where each fence came together, there were silver beads and these were the beads which Anton ate.


We left Veillardville in April 1938. I was going to be ten in May. We went down to Wynyard and visited a couple of guys who had worked for us for two winters earlier. They were brothers and they lived near Wynyard. We also had a hired girl working for us. Eventually, she took a hair dressing course and we met her again, later, in Tillsonburg. In those days the Government would give those people $5 a month to work as domestic hired help. If they stayed until April or May the people keeping them would receive $5 a month. It was a way of putting young people to work and the Government would subsidize them. My mother took the $5 she received and gave it to the girl. That was how Marguerite, our housekeeper, paid for her hair dressing course. She had come from near Leask.


On our way down East, in the spring of 1938, we took an extended trip through Minnesota to meet all the relatives. That was the first time I'd ever seen a nun. We met Aunt Annie Lessard, an aunt of Clara's, Gene's and the rest.


Finally, we arrived in Tillsonburg. It was here that my sister, Therese, and I went to school in the basement of St. Mary's Church. The following year, Therese went to the Tillsonburg High School which was a public high school. I continued at the Separate School. I was promoted and a year later I was in grade nine and Therese was in grade ten. By then my brothers, Joe and Martin, had already quit school and were working. Mom was working in a tobacco factory in Tillsonburg; Therese and I were babysitting.


We began our music lessons when we lived with Miss Thompson. She was crippled with some disease - I think it was Polio. She had asked us to come, stay overnight, make her breakfast in the morning, and bring it up on a tray. For this we received free piano lessons. Somehow, through the help of our parish priest, Father Joe O'Neil, we got a piano. We were able to practise and that is how our music lessons started.


By this time Gene, our older brother, had already left to go back out West. On the way, he hopped a freight train and broke his leg somewhere in northern Ontario. He went back to his old haunts in Veillardville - to be close to Edithe, I guess.


The year I began grade ten, Therese quit school and moved to Hamilton. I was in grade ten until Christmas; then I moved to Hamilton where my mother had rented a place. By this time Joe, Martin and Therese were all working in the city. Joe said to my mother, "I would like Mae to take singing lessons," so he gave her $20 and this paid for my first ten lessons at $2 a lesson, and that is how I began to study singing. Joe thought I had a talent because in Tillsonburg I yodelled and sang cowboy songs with my good friend, Francis Gignac. Also, my Science teacher, who had some interest in music and had travelled around the world, said that she could hear something in my voice, something which told her that I had a talent for singing and she said I should study singing. Later, I studied at the Hamilton Conservatory. I took piano lessons at the convent close by from a nun.


Sometime along the next year or so my brother, Martin, married Floris Tarvis.


I went to Cathedral High in Hamilton for the rest of grade ten and grade eleven. At the end of my grade eleven, my mother was disillusioned with Hamilton so she moved to Toronto. By this time our country was at war and Therese had joined up. Martin and Joe had either joined up or been called. They ended up in the Navy, Therese in the Air Force. My mother rented a two-room apartment right near the centre of Toronto, half a block off Bloor and Yonge Streets. I rode my bicycle all along Highway #2 beside the lake to get from Hamilton to Toronto. I started grade twelve at St. Joseph's High School. I was there one year, first as a day scholar, then I boarded at the convent until the end of June. When school finished, I went out west to Hudson Bay.


My mother moved out West because her brother, Albert, was not well. He was running a shoe store and a shoe repair business in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. He had asked her to come to help look after the store so she went out at Christmas time. His son, Freddy, was a baby at the time.


I was sixteen the summer I helped in my uncle's store in Hudson Bay. Naturally, I wanted to look nice but my hair was a mess. It was all frizzy and curly and looked like Uncle Fred's hair had looked when he came back from the lumber camps (Uncle Fred was Mother's brother). My hair needed to be styled so my mother took me to the hair dresser. How well I remember that day my hair was cut and shaped for it was the day of the elections in 1944 when the C.C.F. got into power in Saskatchewan.


Somehow during the war Therese came home on leave and we ended up spending the latter part of the summer at our cousin's near Duck Lake at Domremy, at Uncle Vida's. We spent a lot of time out in the fields with Raymond and Emile Bernier.


That fall, my mother signed me up as a boarder at Sion in Saskatoon to finish my high school. Quite a bit of the work that year was repetitious for me but I did take some new work - grade eleven and twelve German and I started grade twelve Geometry. I remained a boarder till Easter when I discovered that my mother had moved to Saskatoon and was living with her sister and husband, Lucy and Fred Lessard. So I left as a boarder at Sion and completed the year as a day scholar. From there I went to Teacher's College, known then as Normal School. In the summer of '44 I learned I had won a silver medal in grade ten for singing. I had received the highest mark in the province, something I had not expected! I finished summer school and signed a contract to teach at Duck Lake. But my mother thought I was a little too young at seventeen to be going off on my own to teach so she made me break my contract and enrolled me at the University of Saskatchewan. That's how I ended up at university just when the war ended in 1945. It was there that I met Bernard, my future husband. Instead of continuing with my third year, I went to North Battleford and taught grade two at the Convent. The following year I moved back to Saskatoon, took a summer course in Drama, and returned to university that fall.


During the Thanksgiving weekend, on October 9, 1948, I became the wife of Bernard Daly. My mother, having totally disowned me, moved out and went to Hudson Bay. Shortly after, Clara arrived bringing the wedding cake which she had made. Mom was with her and they were both all excited about the wedding. We had a beautiful wedding.


At first we lived in a wartime house, the same one Mom and I had lived in, only now Bernie and I lived in one side with my mother in the other side. During that winter we moved to a basement apartment close to the university. The following spring we moved back to Avenue J and lived in a very small house. By this time, Bernie was working nights for the Star Phoenix and I was pregnant. In 1949, I got my Bachelor of Arts, my ARCT teaching and I became a mother on August 28 - all in one summer!


The following summer we moved to 25th Street and lived in a two-storey house; the second storey was rented to two men. The house belonged to Bob Pravda's aunt. When she and her husband returned, we moved upstairs as the two renters had left. In the spring we moved to Avenue F.


That fall Bernie was offered a job to run the North Battleford newspaper. So we moved again but, as places were hard to get in North Battleford, we ended up living with his parents. It was during this time that I lost a baby.


Our next major move took us back to Saskatoon where we bought a house with the help of St. Mary's Credit Union. A nice home, it was located on Avenue P and we even had a garden there.


Over the next few years Mary Anne and Michael were born. Through these years we had four babysitters, three of which became nuns. We were busy, both of us. Bernie was working at the Star Phoenix and I was directing and singing in church choirs at St. Mary's and at the Newman Club on Campus.


One day in 1957 Bishop Klein called on us. He said he had been asked by the former bishop of Saskatoon (Bishop Pocock who was then Archbishop of Winnipeg) to invite Bernie to accept the duties of press person for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). We sold our house to a hockey star, Gerry Couture, who wanted it for his mother, and in the spring of 1958 we moved to Ottawa. Bernie, who had gone ahead to make arrangements for us, had the misfortune of having a ruptured appendix. We ended up spending Easter week at his cousin's home. There we were, with their three children, a husband recuperating from peritonitis and our five small children on a cold, muddy Easter week. Finally our furniture arrived and we moved into a triplex house in the east end of Ottawa. This was only a temporary move; that summer we had a house built.


We had been introduced to Christian Family Movement by Grant and Vivian Maxwell in Saskatoon. Now, in Ottawa, we became active in a local group. Later we replaced the Maxwells on the programme writing committee for C.F.M. We served as chair couple for several years and later were the Canadian representative couple in International C.F.M., which resulted in quite a bit of travel.


From 1969, I became interested in a very spe-cial Music Education philosophy and in 1972 founded the Kodaly Institute of Canada. I was its Executive Director for ten years. Later, I changed my direction and put my energy into a music school in Ottawa.


Over the years Bernie has been involved in a number of jobs – always with the Church. Shortly after our move to Ottawa, the upcoming Vatican Council II was announced. The Cana-dian Bishops asked Bernie if he would cover the council as a newspaper person. So, over the next few years, he travelled to Rome to attend all four sessions, a total of one year in all. I was fortunate to go in the third year as a pilgrim for three weeks. I met, among other people, the first woman observer at the Vatican Council, Mlle. Vinet.


Once the council was over, Bernie returned home to Ottawa and to studies for his Master's degree in Sociology. He became the director of the newly established Family Life Bureau. Then he was again approached by the Canadian Bishops, this time to ask if he would become a member of a six-man advisory team. Bernie accepted. Three of the team were English and three were French while their educational back-grounds were of varied disciplines (i.e. sociology, theology, among others). The team was respon-sible for preparing statements and, at times, crit-icizing the Government's position on issues like birth control, abortion and immigration policies.


Since then, Bernie took an active part in Pope John Paul II's visit to Canada as the Assistant Co-ordinator, a task that took a year and a half. Here we shall let Bernie share with you:


"A few words here cannot add anything to the September days of Pope John Paul II's visit which so gripped the lives of Canadians. I had been scheduled to spend the visit at a co-ordina-tion centre in Ottawa but, two days into the tour, was called to duties in the party travelling with the Pope. The work to be done was at the back of the plane, on the bus in the motorcade, and behind the papal altars from St. John's to Ottawa – never very close to the papal stateroom or the various red carpets but still part of that great adventure. A lot of the work had to do with seeing to it that translations of the Pope's talks got through on time to media centres, the host broadcaster, the simultaneous translators, the host diocese, and the special service for people with hearing impairments. This afforded a priv-


ileged opportunity to work with and get to know a number of the Pope's personal staff, who put in extremely long, hard hours. And there was a never-to-be-repeated close-up view of some two million Canadians in festive excitement, in rain, fog, wind, and under a brilliant sun. One lasting memory is of how gently they touched, Pope and people, as they reached out to each other. Whereas in the planning stage there had been much pushing, shoving, grasping and striving for more time and space, during the actual visit this side of us seemed to yield to generosity and, above all, gentleness. There was crowd control, but also the crowds themselves were controlled, considerate, convivial; and they and Pope John Paul II exchanged thousands of tender touches."


"Of course, there was no chance to get to know him personally, but one couldn't work and live in that setting without gaining some impres-sions of him as a person. First among these is of his controlled, disciplined sense of presence. When he knelt before the Blessed Sacrament, so undistracted was his prayerfulness that crowded cathedrals echoing with handclapping and bus-tling fell absolutely silent, as if a power cord had been unplugged. A sick or elderly person felt he saw only them when they chatted. It must only be by being so attentive to what he is doing at the time, be it his work, prayer, rest or meals, that he is able to maintain such a pace."


"As part of all the arrangements, the Cana-dian Bishops chartered the plane to carry the Pope, his party and some international jour-nalists back to Rome. There was room for a few others to have the honour of going along, among them the two of us."


Following the Papal visit Bernie took on new responsibilities, that of CCCB assistant general secretary (English sector). This is quite an honour as it is the first time a lay person has been given the opportunity to serve in this capacity. As well, Bernie presently serves on the Board of Directors of St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon which requires that he attend a yearly board meeting. He still has six months sabbatical coming and, in the not-so-distant future, the possibility of retirement.


We presently reside at Wilson's Corners, Quebec, and have recently renovated our little home more than doubling the original floor space. We travelled to Grenada, Saskatoon and other points West in 1985. We each enjoy good health amid the "ordinary and extraordinary" events with family, friends, and colleagues whether it be at home, work or simply while relaxing.


Tom and Robin who live in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia with their children: Jesse, Brennan and twins, Elynyd and Kieran, born July 2, 1986.


Pat with her husband, Giorgio Grappolini, and children: John, Michelle, Luisa and Julia live in Sherwood Park, Alberta, where Giorgio is employed in the oil industry.


Mary Anne and Joe Burke live in Ottawa, Ontario, with their three children: Thomasina, Hannah and Moira.


Michael married Lisa Slinkard and they are living in California. He has a son, Patrick.


Teresa is a member of Canada's Armed Forces and lives in Trenton, Ontario, with daughter, Tiana.


In 1974, Rachel Strasser received a plaque from the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool on behalf of her first husband, Joe Lessard, who was an original member in 1924. The plaque was given to members. 1924 - 1974 (50 years).


Alma Alain often made "Les Tourtieres." The following recipe was submitted by her daughter, Edithe Lessard.


Take a raw pork shoulder and trim off excess fat. Slice into thin slices about 1/4 inch thick. Then cube these slices.


To the above mixture, add the following to taste: onions salt and pepper cloves or all-spice


Barely cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer 45 minutes or until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool while preparing pastry as follows:


Cut lard and butter into dry ingredients. Add water and mix as for pastry.


Prepare bottom crust, then pour in the meat filling. Place the top crust over and bake at 350° F. till pastry is brown.


Les Tourtieres were served in French homes during the Christmas season.


In the Alain home, Alma served pork pies both at Christmas and at New Year's. She served them hot -- alone or with gravy.


Cook tomatoes and sugar for a few minutes. Mash tomatoes and add soda to neutralize acid in tomatoes. Add tomatoes slowly to milk, butter and seasoning. Have tomatoes and milk at same temperature or soup may curdle. Serve immediately.


Rachel Strasser was known for her tomato soup.


This story was written with the assistance of Eva (Lessard) Prince, a granddaughter of Siméon and Célinère. As well, further information was gleaned from the books, The Oklee Community Story and A History of Red Lake County.


Siméon Bernier and his wife Célinère are listed in the 1910 Census of Lambert County, U.S.A., having come from Canada. They spoke French but could neither read nor write. They took out a homestead on the S.W. portion of Section 8, Township 150 west of Range 41 in Lambert County, Minnesota, U.S.A.


Siméon and Célinère belonged to the Roman Catholic Faith and, just as their culture was an inherent part of their lifestyle, so too were their religious practices of prayers in the home and Sunday attendance at Mass. They would have attended Mass during their first years in Lambert at the St. Francis Xavier Mission Chapel which had been erected under the leadership of the first missionary priest, the Reverend Father Pierre B. Champagne. A larger church was built under the direction of the area's first resident pastor, Father L. Guillaume (1890 - 1892). However, this new building was completely demolished by a windstorm so, of necessity, church services were again held in the small mission chapel. In 1896, Father Armchambault was appointed pastor of St. Xavier's and the present church was built in 1899. Later, about the time when two of their daughters, Lucy and Rachel, moved to Saskatchewan, the parish at Lambert was divided into two sections: the east half became the new parish of Oklee while the west half formed the parish at Brooks. This division may be the reason why years later Oklee was listed on baptismal certificates as the parish rather than Lambert.


Siméon donated one-half acre of land on which the school was built. Located on the N.W. portion of their land, it was only a short walk for their youngsters. All of Siméon's children attended this school and often referred to it as the Bernier School.


There was a river which ran through Lambert Township and crossed Siméon's land. It was in this river bed that one of his boys, Albert, cut his foot on a rusty wire. Infection set in and the doctor was called. Surgery was needed. In those days they had to make do with what they had. So the young boy, not yet school age, was operated on on the kitchen table in his home. With only whiskey as a pain killer, the foot was amputated below the knee. The long healing process began. Afterwards, the physician returned periodically to check on his young patient. However, Albert was naturally filled with much fear and so he would run and hide whenever the doctor came by. But each time, the doctor noticed the leg was healing nicely. Later, Albert fashioned himself a wooden limb and adapted well.


One day Siméon purchased a violin for his crippled lad. Within a matter of a few hours, Albert had mastered a couple of tunes. The fiddle became a special part of Albert's life and he shared his gift of music with all. Years later it was said that Albert played like Don Messer, a renowned Canadian fiddler.


Besides farming the land, Siméon had several cows. Prairie grass grew well and hay was plentiful so there was no problem with their winter feed. The Oklee Community Story reprinted an article from a 1902 Gazette which reads that various farmers, among them "...Siméon Bernier and others have averaged about $35.00 a month from the sale of their milk during the factory season." The milk was used to make cheese.


His daughter, Rachel, only months before her death in 1985, related the following about her father, Siméon: he was a farmer and a contractor. He raised cattle and grain which he took into northern Minnesota and traded for lumber which he then sold to others.


Siméon had a sharp mind and an eye for business. Also, he was a hard worker and was not afraid to undertake new tasks.


These are Siméon and Célinère's children:


1. Clara married Tom Toulouse. She remained in the States. Her children are: Thomas, Frank, Albert (deceased), Rachel.


2. Alvida married Antoinette Lefèvre. They came to St. Brieux, Saskatchewan.


Lambert Township Map taken from The Oklee Community Story .


Their children are: Délima married Albert Dupuis Noé married Cecile Dupuis Onézime married Alice Baribeau Isidore married Simone Dupuis Napoleon married Therese Baribeau Raymond married Yvonne Desjardin Emile married Jeanne Roy Marie Célinie Agna b. March 29, 1921, married James Davidson Antonia Marie Josephe ( Antoinette ) b. March 31, 1923, married Felix Baribeau * All of the boys and Delima are deceased.


3. Lucias married Alfred Lessard September 1905 in Lambert County, Minnesota. Their children are: Eva b. August 24, 1906 in Minnesota m. Charles Prince in 1925; Lawrence b. July 7, 1915 in Minnesota m. Reine Lavoie in 1940 Lucille b. July 8, 1918 in Saskatchewan m. Rémi Arcand of Chilliwack, B.C. Emma b. May 17, 1920 in Saskatchewan m. Phillippe Gagné of Noranda, Quebec


4. Délia married Napoléon Poulin. They went to Washington. They had twins. The girl survived and is living in North Yakima, Washington. Then they had twins a second time. They, along with their mother, Délia, died from the 'flu in 1918.


5. Léah married Antoine Boucher. Their children are: Bert Eleanor m. a Czechoslovakian Raymond became a religious brother. He died the same year as his mother.


6. Rachel married Joseph Lessard April 14, 1914 in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. Their children are: George Gene Alfred Joseph Noé Napoléon Clara Edith Martin Alphonse Joseph Marie Jeanne Thérèse


[For further information, see his/her individual story.]


7. Albert married Florence Primrose on March 30, 1937. Albert died June 5, 1956. They had one son, Fred, born December 27, 1937. Fred is living in Macdowall, Saskatchewan.


Fred m. Jeannette Parenteau April 15, 1961 in Lynn Lake, Manitoba. Their children are: Daryl b. July 19, 1962. He was deceased at the age of 21 on February 4, 1984. Michelle is still living at home.


8. Louis married Parmélia Lessard. Louis died at a young age. He developed a kidney stone. Seventeen days later, he was dead. They had operated to remove the stone from his kidney. His father, Siméon Bernier, visited him often during his last days. Parmélia gave birth to a little girl, Emma, shortly after Louis' death. Emma Knotts resides in Yuma, Arizona.


Parmélia later married Butcher (pronounced Boucher).


Célinère died in her sixties at her daughter, Léah Boucher's.


NOTE: b. denotes birth or baptism, m. denotes marriage, d. denotes death.


1. Etienne de Lessart & Marguerite Sevestre m. April 8, 1652, Nôtre Dame de Québec.


2. Etienne Lessard & Marie Poulin m. April 17, 1679, Ste. Anne de Beaupré.


3. Jean Lessard & M.-Anne Lacroix m. May 22, 1730, Ste. Anne de Beaupré.


4. Jean-Ferreol Lessard & M. Anne Guimond m. May 22, 1757, Ste. Anne de Beaupré. & M. Anne Lessard m. October 16, 1777, Ste. Anne de Beaupré.


5. Joseph Lessard & M.-Ursule Boyer m. February 4, 1788, Ste. Anne de Beaupré.


6. Jean-Marie Lessard & Josephte Lambert m. November 23, 1812, Louisville (Maskinongé).


7. Jean-Baptiste Lessard & Mathilde Trépanier m. September 6, 1847, Ste.-Ursule (Maskinongé).


8. Edouard Lessard & Euphémie Paquin m. November 4, 1873, Ste.-Ursule & M.-Valérie Allard m. May 15, 1882, St. Alexis-des-Monts. Children: Alfred Alzema Parmélia Charlie Joseph Déridé Philias Marie Louise Aldea Annie (Sister Valeria) Frank Albert


9. Joseph Déridé Lessard b. November 9, 1891; d. May 1, 1924, North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Rachel Bernier m. April 14, 1914, St. Joseph's Church, Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, U.S.A.


Children: George b. March 8, 1915; d. May 17, 1924, North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Gene Alfred b. December 17, 1916 m. Edithe Alain October 25, 1945


Children: Wayne b. August 23, 1946 Carol b. May 25, 1951 Lee b. November 5, 1955 Blair b. March 2, 1958


Joseph Noé Napoléon b. April 26, 1918, Delmas, Saskatchewan; deceased. Clara Edith b. November 24, 1919, Meota, Saskatchewan. m. Louis Alain April 12, 1937, Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan.


Children: Marlyne b. August 21, 1938 Maxine b. August 28, 1939 Marcella b. April 5, 1944 Bruce b. November 12, 1946 Bernadette b. June 5, 1948


Rachelle b. August 11, 1951 Michelle b. April 19, 1956 Joseph (Joe) b. February 5, 1959


Martin Alphonse b. August 25, 1921 m. Floris Tarvis July 17, 1942; d. March 28, 1973


Children: Luanne b. March 13, 1943 Susan b. October 5, 1944


Joseph (Joe) Roland b. February 12, 1923, Meota, Saskatchewan. m. Helen Tapper June 26, 1947.


Children: Paul b. November 3, 1949 Darlene b. June 30, 1953 Susan b. January 15, 1956 Carolanne b. December 16, 1959 Paulette b. October 31, 1960


Marie Jeanne Thérèse b. November 16, 1924, Delmas, Saskatchewan. m. Al MacFarlane October 11, 1947


Children: Bob b. October 11, 1948 Pamela b. November 22, 1949 Ross b. May 20, 1954 Theresa b. August 20, 1956 Stuart b. July 9, 1959 Brenda b. September 7, 1963


Rachel (Bernier) Lessard m. Louis Strasser August 13, 1927, St. Vital, Battleford, Saskatchewan.


Children: Mae b. May 15, 1928 m. Bernard Daly October 9, 1948


Children: Thomas b. August 28, 1949 Patricia b. September 22, 1950 Mary Anne b. November 6, 1952 Michael b. December 17, 1953 Teresa b. February 24, 1956 Timothy b. December 30, 1960


Franz Xavier Strasser Born: April 12, 1865 at Domelstadel, Bavaria, Germany Died: August 14, 1942 at Buffalo, New York, USA Interred: Morris Cemetery, Fort Providence, PA


His wife: Theresa Strasser (Seil) Born: October 6, 1864 at Munekuhen, Austria (one document listed Sharding, Austria) Died: July 16, 1939 at Phoenixville, PA Interred: Morris Cemetery, Fort Providence, PA


Charles Strasser Born: Hausham, Bavaria, Germany Lived in LaCrosce, Wisconsin, in later years.


Louis Strasser Born: ? Married Rachel Lessard Children - Mae Strasser


Julius Strasser Born: May 3, 1895, Germany or Austria? Hette (No children)


Theresa Strasser Funseth Born: July 3, 1896 Sharding, Austria (not sure of town) Died: May 10, 1965 Carl A. Funseth Born: July 28, 1892? Roseau, Minnesota Children - Edna Funseth Norton Born: January 19, 1918 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Leonora Funseth Baker Born: February 1, 1920 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan


Adolph Strasser (Ed) Born: May 9, 1905 Hausham, Germany Died: May 21, 1962 Emma L. Hoffman Children - Bernard & Shirley (I believe Emma's and adopted by Ed) - Harold Strasser


Frederick Strasser Born: July 16, 1907 Hausham, Germany Died: August 17, 1961 Martha M. Bare Born:? Lives in Phoenixville, PA (No children)


Annie Strasser Bernsdorf Born: May 8, 1909 Hausham, Germany Oscar Bernsdorf


On each trip to Veillardville, as we travel along Highway #3, I am struck by the distinct wilderness of the area. A sense of struggle and feelings of isolation are prevalent. Yet this parkland region of our province holds a curious attraction.


The poplar and birch growths are interspersed with spruce and jackpine. Swamps and wandering creeks are part of the natural terrain. Each year more of the area is opened up; the clearing is made easier now with bigger and more sophisticated equipment.


A look across the country reveals the flatness of the land with its rich black soil. Precipitation levels are high with the annual rainfall averaging sixteen to eighteen inches and the snowfall of fifty inches. This abundance of moisture, coupled with late springs and early frosts, results in the farmers' annual battle each harvest.


As growth is extremely heavy, long warm days are needed each fall to ripen and dry the grain. However, such days belong to summer and have long since fled the country. So the struggle often ends in a compromise. The crops are harvested; the tough, damp grain stored briefly till grain dryers can complete that which was left unfinished by nature. Harvest is over for another year but not without its toll on the farmer. And his work is not yet done for the heavy growth each year results in an abundance of straw which must be dealt with. A large percentage of the flax straw is either gathered into piles or left in rows and burnt while barley, oats and wheat straw is baled for feed and bedding. It is these conditions which lend to mixed farming.


Harvest in the fall of 1985 lasted a full two months. Growth was so heavy that many reported their winter wheat to be five to six feet high. Heavy winds lodged and twisted the crops making harvesting operations even more difficult than usual. The winter which preceded this crop showed a record snowfall of seventy-two inches.


It was to this area of Veillardville that our pioneering forefathers, Alain and Lessard, arrived in the year 1928.


With the coming of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1903 the settlers had a better means of transportation. Various blocks of land were soon opened up for development; one of these was the White Poplar Settlement. From Valley Echoes we learn the following facts: this block of land was taken out of the Pasquia Forest Reserve and first proposed for homesteads in 1908. It would be 1926 before the remaining quarters of Township 45 would be available. The new settlement was named after the White Poplar Sawmill Company. While the lumbering concerns drew the people in the earlier years, the homesteads now attracted settlers with a desire to develop and farm the land. Valley Echoes lists the homesteaders from 1909 through to 1940. The first settlers to apply for homestead patents were John Carlson in 1909 and Napoléon Blanchette in 1910. No one applied in 1911. However, over twenty others applied from 1912 through to 1920. Some of the more familiar names were Clarence A. Smith and son, Clarence C.; Louis Laplante; Geo. Elder; Wm. Charles Quinn; Wm. Thrussell; William Jaszan; Paul Gagnon; Herbert Walton; Robert Davidson; and Joseph Sprackman. Also among them was Louis Veillard.


Louis had lumbered some years before at Greenbush, then returned to his native country, France, where he served with distinction in the First World War. Shortly after, in 1917, he returned to the area with his wife, Angélè. We are provided with a glimpse of life during these early years through her eyes. She writes in Mes Souvenirs:


"So, in April, 1917, we had reached home -- which would later be called Veillardville! We got up early and got to bed late .... an area was cleared of its trees for the construction. Plus, four acres of land were cleared, by axe, of course; a small patch of potatoes, a garden and the rest in oats were seeded."


"In the meantime, with the money saved from the sale of wood, four cows and four calves, a bull, a saddle horse, a pig and some chickens were obtained. We were farmers! But, there was no road to transport the cream to a dairy; there was a river and creek to cross five times ... without a bridge! An arrangement was made with the section foreman from Hudson Bay who delivered our cream to the station and brought back the empty can. Another arrangement was made with the 'fire ranger' (who travelled by jigger on the train tracks) to bring us our mail which he left in a box nailed to a tree close to the tracks. A small flag told him when he should pick up our letters to post. For the essential trips to Hudson Bay we had the saddle pony which swam across the river and creek."


Later in her writings Angélè relates, "Our first harvest of oats was cut with the scythe. I tied it in sheaves like we did in France."


Once settled, the early pioneers began to consider the need of an education for their youngsters. Valley Echoes tells us that a meeting was held in the summer of 1919, the purpose of which was to form a School District. Two and a half years later, the school opened. Located on the S.W. ¼ Sec. 10-45-4 W2, it was called the White Poplar School District #4269 - a number still remembered by many of the students that attended there. Many teachers came and left during the years of 1922 through to 1960, when the school was closed.


One of the early teachers was Nellie (Barteluk) Lozinski. She recalls:


"It was the year of 1929 when I boarded a train that took me to Veillardville where I had secured a teaching position. It was Depression time - the time when there were one hundred applicants for each job. I felt fortunate that Mr. H.W. Harrison, Inspector of Schools, and Rev. Fr. Rivard had recommended me."


"As I held my teaching certificate in my hand I felt that at last I had a job for which I was trained."


"Then came the disappointment. My first glimpse of the school showed a drab dark green building set in a yard of low bushes and trees."


"But my spirits rose the following morning when I viewed some forty eager faces gazing at me with such love and trust."


"As days, weeks, months and years went by, the children showed that they were eager to learn and that they were supportive of me in my efforts to teach them."


"Due to lack of money we had little in the form of play equipment but the children found ways to amuse themselves during play periods. Their inventive minds devised means of competitive play."


"Then there was the yearly Christmas concert. The weeks of preparation and nervousness preceding this event was all worthwhile when the children saw how proud their parents were. Santa never failed to turn up on those occasions. He always remembered even the smallest tot when he handed out bags of goodies."


"There were also fun times for all both young and old when the walls of the old school rang out with the music of the fiddle and piano. The dancing feet did not stop until the wee hours of Saturday morning."


"A quiet time for reflection came each day at 3:30 PM when pupils remained after hours to study Christian Ethics (Catechism) under my instruction. Once a month Rev. Fr. Rivard came to take part in this class."


"Those were years when we lacked money and modern conveniences but we did not lack friendship and understanding."


"One day Mrs. Quinn received a box of used clothing from some kind organization in Ontario. She shared the clothing with the pupils of the district. She even let me pick out a dress."


"It isn't always easy - this thing we call life. Plans don't always work out the way we want them to and misfortunes sometimes cloud and even change our horizon. So after almost four years as teacher in the White Poplar School the school board informed me that they no longer could pay me my salary and had to let me go. With their promissory notes stating that they would pay me later, I bid the pupils that I had learned to love a farewell, closed the door and left for other fields."


Then Mrs. Lozinski paid her former pupils a tribute as she recalls, "In my fifty years as teacher, as I view in memory all the faces along the way, I hold fond memories of the time I spent with the pupils of White Poplar School."


The settlers did not have a post office in the early years so when one opened in Veillard's store in September 1928 with Mrs. Angélè Veillard as Postmistress, it was a happy day for everyone. (As well as the date of its opening, Valley Echoes tells us that the post office was named Veillardville and that barely two years later, the name of White Poplar Siding was changed to Veillardville.)


The nights the mail train arrived gave the folks in the district cause to gather at the store. It was an opportunity to socialize and to pick up a few groceries while waiting for the train to arrive. Maurice Veillard, Angélè and Louis' son, was a young boy of seven in 1933. He recalls mail nights during those years:


"Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday eve- ning, the mail train came in at 10:00. It was one of the highlights for the people throughout the dis- trict. There'd be 40 - 50 of the settlers crowded in the small store. My dad and Smokey Alain, who ran the other store, did most of their business on those nights and also after church on Sundays. They could almost have closed up the rest of the week. The kids would come along with their folks and we'd play tag or hide 'n seek outside."


"At our store, there were always six or seven men sitting around on mail nights playing cards. Four of the regulars were Harold Parks, Bill Salamondra, Dad (Louis Veillard) and Henry Alain. Poker was often played. The stakes were low so there were never any big winners. For the most part, the money simply changed hands. However, feelings could run high at times. One night, in a high-low game in which they split the pot, one of the two left in the game was Henry Alain. Sitting next to him was Ed Barry. As the people were throwing in their cards - five of the others had given up - Ed was picking up the cards getting ready to deal the next hand. Now Henry had a bad habit of never having enough money in front of him. So he laid his cards down to get some more money out of his pocket. Then he called the last bet, 'Now, gentlemen of the jury,' which was one of his favorite sayings, 'I've got five aces' and he looked for his hand. It was gone! Ed had picked up his cards and was already shuffling them for the next deal. Henry had lost his share of the pot. He was so angry he never talked to Ed for the next two months."


The men played cards on rainy days and through the winter, too. In the evenings, the playing might have gone on till the wee hours of the morning were it not for the arrival of the mail train. Louis enjoyed cards and could, on occa- sion, turn a deaf ear to the sound of the train's arrival and to the Postmistress's urgent plea to take the mail sack out. It was not often that she got the last word in but it was known to happen. Maurice relates:


"Bicycle is a term used in the game of poker. It refers to an ace - deuce - three - four and five. This particular night they were playing a high- low game. The train was already stopped and the whistle was blowing. Mom was tugging at Dad's shirt, 'Get out with the mail, Louis. Get out with the mail.'"


"Now Dad, wanting to get his half of the pot, replied, 'Leave me alone,' and promptly announced to the other players, 'I've got a bicy-


cle.' To which Mom quickly replied, 'Well, get on the damn thing and get that mail out to the train!' Mom didn't know what a bicycle meant as she didn't play cards."


The custom of cards and socializing mingled with business carried on in the late evenings at the rural store continued into the Fifties and Sixties. In Valley Echoes we read that the Post Office closed January 31, 1964. What we do not read is that, with the closure, the tradition of gathering on mail nights was discontinued. It remains only as a fading memory of a community's lifestyle that centered around its people.


We learn from various sources that in the early years, before the land was settled, and also during the homesteading years of 1908 through the Forties, the main occupation was forestry related. Valley Echoes lists over 230 private sawmills which operated during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in the Hudson Bay Junction District. One of these was the Spruce Products Company which operated in the Veillardville district during the mid forties. As it was one of the larger mills, its presence was noticeably felt by the settlers. As I was beginning school during this time, I recall the trucks travelling past our home which was three-quarters of a mile north of Veillardville. The company had several buildings located close to the railroad and next to Veillard's store. While it remained in the area it boosted the economy. Many of the local men were hired to take out the pulp, one of whom was my dad, Louis Alain. Then, when he was hurt (cracked ribs), the com- pany gave him the job as night watchman at the Siding. Others like Smokey and Verna Alain expanded their business. Their general store now boasted a lunch counter and, for a short time, a pool hall. Smokey's brother, Rolland, and wife, Yvonne, offered a similar service. Maurice Veillard, Yvonne's brother, tells us about these days:


"Red's Cafe was in Dad's old warehouse. We had a little phone system set up from the cafe to our house. I was in partnership with Rolland and Yvonne. Each of us received one-third. I sold gas - at night as well as in the day - sometimes several days went by and I never had my clothes off. It was a busy time. Rolland and Yvonne took care of the cafe and Mom made pies. As far as I know, she never got paid."


Maurice continues on to tell us about the Spruce Products Company:


"They were from south of Winnipeg, in Minnesota. The truckers were from Melfort, Yorkton, Regina, Quill Lake and Foam Lake. There were also several Frenchmen from south of Winnipeg. There had to be anywhere from 20 to 30 trucks operating during those years. Of course there were also local men hired to scale and skid the logs. There was a cookhouse for the men. They purchased their supplies - groceries, tires, oil and grease - from the two local businessmen."


"It took the company three weeks that first winter to push a road thirty miles north. Just imagine, from dense bush to a graded, gravelled road in three weeks!"


"The truckers dumped their loads just south of the railroad tracks between Dad's barn and the store. They had the whole yard which ran a half mile. It took another crew of men to load the boxcars. And at that time there weren't any flatcars, only the closed-in boxcars. The raw logs were shipped to Pine Falls, Manitoba, and some went to Warroad, Minnesota."


"Business boomed at Veillardville during those few short years in the mid-Forties. Then the Government put in the Timber Board. The Spruce Products Company pulled out as they were no longer able to obtain a contract."


No article on this area would be complete without some mention of the Church. In 1963 St. Dominic's Catholic Church of Hudson Bay celebrated its Golden Anniversary. At this time, a 50th Anniversary book was prepared under the guidance of the Knights of Columbus. It is from this manuscript that much of the following information was gleaned.


St. Anthony's Church was built in 1939. Rev. Father Desrosiers, P.S.M., ministered to the spiritual needs of some 42 families at that time. But in the years prior to 1939 and the building of their church, the practicing of one's religion required considerable hardship and sacrifice. The pioneers sometimes travelled ten or more miles by horse and wagon, buggy or sleigh, or even walked to assist at Mass once or twice monthly in St. Dominic's at Hudson Bay. They would pack their lunch and eat in the small furnace room of the church.


Then, too, there were times when Mass was celebrated in private homes. In the Veillardville district the settlers gathered at the home of Louis and Angélè Veillard. On one such occasion over ninety people received Communion.


Angélè writes in Mes Souvenirs, "Our saddle pony (Cinders) had the honor to bring into town our devoted missionaries, His Excellence Monseigneur Guy, then priest in Le Pas and Rev. Father G. Marchand, when they walked to bring us the comforts of religion. The pony came back on his own."


The Veillards played a significant role in the history of St. Anthony's and no one worked with more diligence and zeal than Angélè. She enlisted the help of her brother, Canon François Nicolett, rector of a university in France. Valley Echoes informs us that after a visit to the rural area, he returned home to France, raised money for the little church and was instrumental in the donation later sent to Veillardville from the Church Extension Society of Toronto.


Beginning in 1935 the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Evron, who were stationed at Zenon Park, Saskatchewan, came each summer to teach catechism. They also prepared the children for the reception of the sacraments.


Construction on the new church began in 1939 but was not finished until 1944. Nevertheless, the church was sufficiently completed to hold services in the fall of 1939. The first Mass was celebrated on September 3rd of that year.


Another cause for celebration in the history of St. Anthony's was the blessing of the bell. It took place in 1947. I was only eight years old at the time but how well I recall the excitement that surrounded the shiny bell. Church dignitaries were present; pictures were taken. I remember thinking that it was really something special to have our own bell but I was quite worried, too. For the life of me, I couldn't see how they would get that huge bell (it weighed 125 pounds) up into the steeple. I need not have concerned myself for it proved a rather simple task for the men of the parish once the festivities were over and Bishop Duprat of Prince Albert and the other visitors had left. The bell was unique for it had been cast from bronze salvaged from the ships the French scuttled at Toulon, France, to keep from falling into the hands of the Germans. The bell had been donated by Canon Nicolett. In the years to follow, the bell was rung on the occasion of a wedding or baptism, and each Sunday it announced to the parishioners when Mass was about to begin.


The bell was no longer heard at St. Anthony's after 1966. Many of the families had left the parish; the Canadian Church had begun to experience a shortage of priests and, as well, roads had sufficiently improved by this time for the rural Catholics to travel to Hudson Bay. So the little brown church with the white trim was closed; the Veillardville parishioners began to attend St. Dominic's. But a part of St. Anthony's had moved with them – their bell rang out loud and clear at St. Dominic's.


The hamlet of Veillardville as I knew it in the Forties and Fifties was made up of the Veillardville Co-Op Hall built in the mid-Thirties and enlarged in time for one of our Alain Reunions in 1978, the Wheat Pool elevator, a section house and ice house belonging to the C.N.R., the Anglican Church a short distance from the siding, in addition to the Catholic Church and the two general stores and post office previously mentioned. While Smokey (Moise) and Verna Alain's home was attached to their store (they have only recently moved), Veillards had a separate dwelling. Other dwellings close to the hamlet belonged to Henry Alain, Art Lamontagne, Ray McConnell, Fred Laplante and Bill Salamondra. We would pass the latter three on the days we followed the railroad tracks on our journey to school. The Len Thrussell home was situated further north so was not visible from the tracks; however, the Norm McGratten home was located close by. Often, as we passed each dwelling in the morning, one or two of the children would join up with us. Lots of talk, some play and a few squabbles shortened that mile considerably and made the daily trek enjoyable.


With the passage of the years, some of the buildings were sold, then moved. Some like the elevator simply closed, some of the people moved away and some passed on. Thus, within the space of a few years in the mid-Sixties, Veillardville ceased to be. The only building in active use today is the Co-Op Hall. A social centre, it serves as a reminder to all: although the business community of Veillardville has died, the community spirit is alive and well.


The first Alain Reunion was held in 1973 at the farm of Gene and Edithe Lessard. It was held at the end of July to celebrate Grandma's ninetieth birthday.


Many relatives from Jackfish came to Hudson Bay to join in the fun of the dinner and dance on Saturday night. We all remember Uncle Tony, Grandma's brother, making a big splash with Rolland when they got up and kissed (more than once) in answer to people clanging their cups with spoons. Grandma attended the dinner and stayed for the dance to visit with her family.


A Come and Go Tea was held for Grandma at the Lessard farm the next afternoon. The community was invited to come renew acquaintances with Alain family members that were home again.


Grandma posed for the Hudson Bay Post-Review at the tea.


Everyone agreed at this time that we should reunite regularly. As a five-year interval seemed suitable, 1978 was set for the next reunion.


The eight children of Henry and Alma Alain held a family reunion at the farm of Gene and Edithe Lessard at the end of July 1978. The occasion not only commemorated Grandma's (Alma Alain) ninety-fifth birthday but also marked the fiftieth year of the family's settlement in the district.


Grandpa had passed away in December 1967. Unfortunately, Grandma was not able to join in the reunion festivities since she was a patient in the Hudson Bay Union Hospital. She had been in good health until recently.


Of her eight children, three live in the Veillardville district: sons Moise and Rolland, and daughter Edithe Lessard. Three reside in British Columbia: Louis is from Vernon, Paul of Kamloops, and Yvonne (Mrs. Pat O'Brien) lives in Vancouver. Marie Paule (Mrs. Angus Menzies) and Berthe (Mrs. Paul Marsollier) both live in Flin Flon, Manitoba. At that time, there were 38 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. All the grandchildren, except 5, were able to attend.


Dubbed the "Alain Pow-Wow", this reunion brought one hundred and twelve descendants together from five provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia plus the Northwest Territories. The furthest distance travelled was by grandson Keith Menzies and his wife Edith of Waterville, Nova Scotia, who came three thousand miles.


Family members began arriving as early as the Wednesday for the event. A family dinner was held in the Veillardville Hall on Saturday, followed by a dance. It was the first time that the new addition to the Hall had been used. The celebrations ended on Sunday with an outdoor potluck dinner.


Although the B.C. relatives complained of the mosquitoes and cold weather, they enjoyed the festivities as much as the rest of us!


Rolland and Yvonne Alain's farm was the scene of the third family reunion. There were 120 family members and friends in attendance. Relatives from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan came for the affair. Although many arrived at the farm ahead of time, the festivities were again planned for the long weekend, July 30, following Grandma's birthday. She would have been 100 years old this year. However, she had passed away in December of 1982.


A few "added attractions" were held at this reunion. The men had a bathing suit contest on Saturday afternoon. The women enjoyed seeing the men in female beach attire! A few hours later, each of Grandma's sons' and daughters' families showed some sort of talent in a "skits" program. The acts were enjoyed by one and all. Following the entertainment, everyone sat down for a meal Saturday evening. A dance was held at the Veillardville Hall.


The family hosted a Come and Go Tea for the community on Sunday afternoon. In the evening, a film of the last reunion was shown. It ended with a sing-song.


Besides the fun and frolic, family members were honored. Moise "Smokey" and Verna Alain were honored on their 50th Anniversary as well as Rolland and Yvonne on their 40th; niece Marlyne and Adolf Reindl of Saskatoon, their 25th; and cousin Marguerite and George Dion of North Battleford, their 45th.


VEILLARDVILLE COUPLE CELEBRATE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY


(A news item taken from the Hudson Bay Post-Review Wednesday, July 10, 1957)


Mr. and Mrs. Henry Alain, Veillardville, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, Monday, July 8th. Mr. and Mrs. Alain have resided in the district since 1928.


A Saturday morning church service in St. Anthony's Church in Veillardville, marked the golden jubilee celebration. Father Fitzgerald officiated at Mass and the renewal of their marriage vows made fifty years ago at Jackfish, Saskatchewan. A special blessing was read from His Excellency, Bishop Blais, Prince Albert.


During Mass, Mrs. Mondor sang an appropriate hymn, followed by "O Lord Most Holy", by the four daughters of the four sons of Mr. and Mrs. Alain. A reception in the church basement followed.


On Sunday, July 7th, the entire Alain family, with the exception of Mrs. Marie Paule Menzies of Flin Flon, gathered in the community hall for an anniversary dinner. Thirty-seven children and grandchildren were present.


Mr. Henry Alain was born in St. Ubald, Quebec, January 25, 1882. He came out West in 1902 and in 1907 married Alma L'Heureux at Jackfish, Saskatchewan. Mrs. Alain was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, July 31st, 1883.


The Alains farmed at Ruddell for seven years and then moved to Delmas where they resided for the next eighteen years. It was here that the family of eight children grew up. In 1928 the family moved to the Veillardville district where they farmed until Mr. Alain retired.


Two daughters, Mrs. Yvonne Wyman, Vancouver, and Mrs. Bertha Marsollier, Flin Flon, are visiting their parents during the celebration. Other members of the family residing in the district are Mrs. Edithe Lessard, and Moise, Louis, Rolland and Paul Alain. Mr. and Mrs. Alain have thirty-one grandchildren with all present but two married girls who were unable to attend.


On Monday, open house was held at the Sr. Alain home, where many friends and relatives called to extend their best wishes to the happy couple. In the evening a large crowd of friends and relations gathered for presentations.


50th Wedding Anniversary of Angus and Marie Paule Menzies


Their 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration was a pleasant surprise for the guests of honor as family and friends gathered at the Lobstick Hall, Creighton, Manitoba, on August 7, 1982. Although the original plans called for strict secrecy, all was fine until one card arrived at their home with the words of "regret at not being able to attend your anniversary." That gave it all away!


The celebration was to be held on their front lawn but, alas, it poured buckets on the 7th and meant changing location. However, all worked out well. A reception was held, followed by a dance and buffet.


Among the many gifts was a money tree, two small apple-head dolls dressed as Grandpa and Grandma, bouquets of flowers including a long-stemmed rose presented by each grandchild. It was a lovely celebration for a grand couple!


[Copied from Hudson Bay Post-Review ... Wednesday, August 15, 1973]


Mrs. Alma Alain, ninety years of age on July 31, 1973, was the guest of honor at a family supper on July 28 in the Veillardville Hall with eighty-six family members in attendance. On Sunday, July 29, a Come and Go Tea was held at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Lessard, where over eighty came to extend congratulations.


Alma L'Heureux was born in Winnipeg, July 31, 1883, and moved with her parents to Jackfish, Saskatchewan. In 1907, she married Henry Alain and they farmed at Ruddell for seven years before moving to Delmas where they farmed eighteen years. In 1928, they moved to the Veillardville district. Mr. Alain passed away in 1967.


Mrs. Alain has four sons, Moise and Rolland of Hudson Bay, Louis of Vernon, B.C., and Paul of Kamloops; four daughters, Mrs. Harry (Yvonne) Wyman, Vancouver, Mrs. Angus (Marie Paule) Menzies, Mrs. Paul (Berthe) Marsollier, both of Flin Flon, Manitoba and Mrs. Gene (Edithe) Lessard of Hudson Bay; 38 grandchildren and 37 great grandchildren.


Mrs. Alain is quite active for her age, does most of her own housework and loves having company. She lives in her own house in the farmyard of her daughter, Edithe.


Present to help celebrate her birthday were her sister, Mrs. LeClare of North Battleford, her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Antoine L'Heureux of Delmas; also numerous nephews and nieces from Battleford, Edam and Jackfish; all her children except Mrs. Yvonne Wyman, who was unable to attend. Of the 38 grandchildren, 28 were present and 19 of the 37 great grandchildren attended.


The ladies of St. Anthony's Altar Society held a Bazaar each fall (for a short period of time). Among other things it featured a supper (see the menu in French), the wheel of fortune, cards, sale of handwork and the opportunity to socialize. One year a lady read tea leaves.


Ration books were issued during the Second World War through the Government. Each family was limited to items such as sugar, coffee, gas, among others. In order to purchase such items a ration book was needed.


Funeral services were held Friday, December 22, 1967, from St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Hudson Bay, for Joseph Henry Alain, of Veillardville, who had died December 19 in the Melfort Geriatric Centre at the age of 85. Rev. Fr. W.G. Timmermans officiated and the pallbearers were George Quinn, Leonard Thrussel, Philip Gagnon, Llewellyn Smith, John Szmul and Antoine Morin.


Born in St. Ubald, Quebec, January 25, 1882, the deceased had come to Saskatchewan in 1902, and in 1907 had married the former Marie Alma L'Heureux, of Jackfish, who survives him.


The Alains farmed at Ruddell for 7 years and then moved to Delmas where they resided for 18 years. In 1928, the family moved to the Veillardville district where they farmed until Mr. Alain retired. His death came after an illness lasting 7 years.


Besides his wife, Mr. Alain leaves to mourn 4 sons, Moise and Roland, of Veillardville, Louis, of Vernon, B.C., and Paul, of Kamloops, B.C.; four daughters, Mrs. Gene Lessard (Edithe), of Veillardville, Mrs. Angus Menzies (Marie-Paule), Flin Flon, Man., Mrs. Paul Marsollier (Bertha), of Flin Flon, and Mrs. Harry Wyman, (Yvonne), of Vancouver, B.C., as well as two half-brothers, Joseph and Louis Fugere, of Quebec. There are 38 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. With the exception of Mrs. Harry Wyman, all the deceased's children attended the funeral.


Also attending the funeral from outside points were Mr. Joe L'Heureux, the deceased's brother-in-law, and two nephews from Jackfish; Sister Marcella, from Edmonton, Alberta, her sister Mrs. Adolf Reindl (Marlyse), from Saskatoon, and their brother, Bruce Alain, from Estevan.


Burial was in the Hudson Bay Roman Catholic cemetery.


Funeral services for Alma Marie Alain, 99, a pioneer of the Veillardville district were held Tuesday, December 21, 1982 from St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Hudson Bay, Sask. Mrs. Alain passed away in the Hudson Bay Union Hospital on December 15, where she had been a patient since May 11, 1978. Msgr. E. Ulinski officiated at the service and pallbearers were George Quinn, Ralph Murdoch, Martin Lessard, John Szmul, Leonard Thrussell and Donald Morin.


Alma L'Heureux was born on July 31, 1883 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the eldest of a family of 15. In 1907 she married Henry Alain and the couple farmed at Ruddell, Sask., for seven years and then moved to Delmas where they farmed 18 years. In 1928 they moved to the Veillardville district where they continued farming until Mr. Alain retired.


Predeceased by her husband Henry on December 19, 1967 she leaves to mourn four sons, Moise and Rolland of Veillardville; Louis of Vernon, B.C. and Paul of Kamloops; four daughters, Mrs. Gene Lessard (Edithe) of Veillardville, Mrs. Angus Menzies (Marie-Paule) and Mrs. Paul Marsollier (Bertha), both of Flin Flon, Manitoba and Mrs. Pat O'Brien (Yvonne) of Vancouver, B.C., and two sisters and three brothers. Also surviving are 38 grandchildren, 52 great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.


Immediate family members unable to attend the funeral were Mrs. Paul Marsollier, Louis Alain and Rolland Alain. Many relatives attended.


Burial was in the Hudson Bay Roman Catholic cemetery with Blair's Hudson Bay Funeral Chapel in charge of arrangements.


Roland Alain of Veillardville, Sask., passed away Thursday, November 13, 1986.


Born October 27, 1913 at Delmas, Sask., Roland moved to Veillardville in 1928 with his family. In 1943, after working in many areas of Canada, he married Yvonne Veillard. The couple homesteaded north of Veillardville where the family currently resides.


Roland Alain is survived by his brothers and sisters; Smokey (Verna) of Hudson Bay, Yvonne O'Brien of Delta, B.C., Louis (Clara) of Vernon, B.C., Mary-Paule Menzies of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Edithe (Gene) Lessard of Veillardville, Bertha (Paul) Marsollier of Flin Flon, and Paul (Reine) of Kamloops, B.C., his wife, Yvonne of Veillardville; his sons and daughters Simone (Howie) Shouldice of Moose Jaw, Sask., Mo (Gloria) of Veillardville, Roger of Veillardville, Denis (Donna) of Yellowknife, NWT, Rosanne (Larry) in New Zealand, Jeannine (Ted) of Inuvik, NWT, and Lisa of Yellowknife, NWT and grandchildren, Jody and Karlee of Moose Jaw, Ben of Veillardville and Tess of Yellowknife.


The funeral mass was held at St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, Hudson Bay, November 17 with Father R. Van Vynckt as celebrant.


Honourary pallbearers were Maynard Myhr, Cliff Knutson, Harold Parks, Norris Axtell, Len Thrussell and George Quinn. Active pallbearers were Cliff Sjuberg, Donald Morin, Ed Block, Gordon Paproski, Ted Klima and Peter Lewellin. The ushers were Jake Lautner and John Meyers.


The eulogy was read by John Herne and the memorial book was attended by Una Sjuberg.


Interment was at the Roman Catholic cemetery. Blair's Hudson Bay Funeral Home was entrusted with funeral arrangements.


Breffny, Brian de. Irish Family Names, Arms, Origins, and Locations , p. 103.


Canadian Census Records – 1861, 1871, 1881.


Dobrowski, Catherine and Yvonne Alain. Local History Committee. Hudson Bay and District Cultural Society. Valley Echoes . Winnipeg: Inter Collegiate Press, 1982.


Healy, Anne and Sherry Kankel. The Oklee Community Story . Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company.


Knights of Columbus of St. John Bosco of Hudson Bay Sub Council. St. Dominic's Catholic Church Golden Anniversary 1913–1963 .


Laforest, Thomas J. Our French-Canadian Ancestors . Palm Harbor, Fla.: The Lisi Press, 1983.


Lebel, Gérard. "Nos Ancêtres," Magazine Populaire Catholique, Sainte Anne de Beaupré, Revue Sainte Anne de Beaupré . Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Qué.: The Redemptorist Fathers. Septembre 1983, pp. 384–387.


Lefèvre, Eugene. Sainte Anne de Beaupré: Guide Book for Pilgrims and Visitors . Quebec: Laflamme Charrier Inc., May 1983.


Mason, R.G. "The Pioneer," Remember . Delisle, Sask.: Cominco Ltd., 1980.


Moldon, Edna and Martin Iverson. Meota History Book Committee. Footsteps In Time . Meota, Sask.: 1980.


Portneuf-Presse [Québec], 25 Novembre, 1971.


Reaney, P.H., Routledge and Kegan Paul. The Origin of English Surnames . London: 1967, p. 149.


Red Lake County Historical Society and Red Lake County Bi-Centennial Committee. A History of Red Lake County . Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1976.


Saskatchewan Provincial Archives. Regina.


Tanguay, C. Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Canadiennes . Vol. I.


Vaillancourt, Emile. La Conquete du Canada Par Les Normands .


Veillard, Angélè. Mes Souvenirs. Unpublished personal memoirs.


Our First Ancestors and A Compilation of Stories of Their Descendants