In the summer we went to Catechism in Hud-son Bay and stayed with Grandma Strasser for the week. Sister Louise and Sister Clare were the teachers that I remember the best. One summer I had a hard time keeping bangs on my forehead. First of all I had decided that if Bernie was old enough to cut her bangs, so was I. So, after she had finished cutting her bangs, I sat down on the sewing machine stool and proceeded to cut my bangs. Well, they just would not come out straight; so I kept trying and, by the time I decided to stop, there was not much hair left on my forehead to call bangs anymore. The next morning I went to Catechism and wore my little blue cap. The Sisters took off my cap and they put it right back on when they realized why I was wearing it. The next time I had problems with my hair was in Mrs. Smith's class in Hudson Bay. I was chewing gum in class (which was a no-no) when I was called upon to answer a question. I took the gum out of my mouth and put it in my hand and then put my hand to my forehead to pretend I had a headache. Well ... my gum got stuck in my hair, if you can imagine!!! I told a friend what I had done and the next thing I knew, Mrs. Smith was taking me out of class. She had no sympathy for me as she proceeded to cut the gum out of my hair. Once again my little blue cap was on my head!!


I continued going to school in Hudson Bay until Easter of my sixth grade when Mom, Dad, Michelle and Joey moved to Vernon, British Columbia. I finished my grade six at the convent in Zenon Park, Saskatchewan. Bernie was already going there, having started in the fall. I thought I would have the time of my life what with our own Sister Marcella there but, quickly, I learned that there would be no special privileges. She was always fair to us though. At the end of the term, proudly holding onto my report card that said I was promoted to grade seven, Bernie and I boarded the bus that was to take us on our first trip to the west, and to our new home in Vernon, B.C.


We lived in Vernon till the summer of '64, when we moved to Golden, B.C. I remember going to bed one night and being woken up about 11:00 P.M. by a mobile home being moved into the trailer park beside us. Mom was after Bernie and me to get to know the nice boy next door. He seemed to be about Bernie's age and Mom told us that we were all new to this town and that at least we would know someone when we all started


school in a couple of weeks. Well, when school started, this new boy named Dana Toews, Bernie and I all went to school together. We were always being asked if we were brother and sisters. I was quick to reply, "NO!!" For some reason I just did not like him at all. (But somewhere along the road I changed my mind, for just three years later Dana and I were married.) Our family lived in Golden, B.C. for one year and then returned to Vernon where I continued in school.


It was shortly after arriving back in Vernon that I came across an article in our local paper that mentioned THE VERNON GIRLS TRUMPET BAND. The article said the band was looking for new recruits and would begin training again in the fall. The paper went on to say the band would be going to Europe the fol-lowing summer. The tour would include France, Switzerland and Holland. I remember telling Mom and Dad that I was going to join the band and that I would be with them when they went to Europe. They tried to explain to me that the older band members would go and that it would be very unlikely that a new band recruit would be picked. Well ... determined as I am known to be at times, I joined the band in the fall. I started out playing the drums. I knew right away that I would never make a drummer and, besides that, there were quite a few drummers already. I just knew I would never get to Europe that way. Fate stepped in shortly afterwards; one of the girls that played the cymbals was quitting the band and word was out that the band needed a cymbal player. I jumped at the chance. It was then, after a few weeks of practice, that I joined the main core of the band and also secured a position for Europe in th summer. I could not wait to tell everyone my good news starting, of course, wth Mom and Dad.


We landed in Amsterdam, Holland, on August 11, 1966 which, incidentally, was my fif-teenth birthday. In Europe we did a lot of touring -- seeing places such as Geneva, Paris, Amster-dam, and many smaller centers. We arrived back home a very homesick group. We had been away six weeks. The only thing about this trip that I regret is that I was too young for such a trip. My reason for saying this is that I have forgotten most of my trip. I wished I could have been about ten years older at the time. I stayed in the band till the end of that year, at which time I moved to Saskatchewan.


During the year since returning from Europe I met up with Dana, who was living in a little town called Avola in British Columbia. We started dating again. We were married that fall in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on October 17, 1967. Mom and Dad were unable to be with us as they were at EXPO '67 in Montreal at the World's Fair. After we were married, we returned to Avola where Dana was working for the Department of Highways as a surveyor. We stayed in Avola for one year, during which time we became parents to our first child, Lana Denice , born on May 16, 1968.


When Lana was five months old we moved to Vernon, B.C. Dana had a job with a house-moving company. Shortly after we arrived in Vernon, I found I was going to have another baby. We stayed in Vernon only a couple of months and then we moved to Kelowna, B.C., where our second child was born. We named our son John Abbott . He was born July 16, 1969, fourteen months to the day Lana was born. We felt that our family was now complete, a boy and a girl. Not so ... on September 21, 1971, just two years later, our third and last child, another son was born. We named him Terence Todd, but he is called Todd . My goodness, I was busy now! We were living in Mica Creek, British Columbia, at the time of Todd's birth.


We really did a lot of moving in the first ten years we were married. Vernon seemed to be the one place we kept moving to and away from. We moved to Alberta in September of 1979. Dana had been surveying for many years with the Department of Highways and later worked in construction at Mica Dam in British Columbia. He was also involved with the sign industry, having learned about manufacturing, installing and servicing while working for his mother and step-father who owned French Sign Service in Vernon. It was after the French Sign Service was sold and Dana could not find work in the Okanagan that we decided to move to Alberta.


The work situation was much better in Alberta at that time. Dana left Vernon around the fifteenth of August and found work right away. He stayed with my cousin, Pam Fell, in Edmonton when he first arrived in the city. On the twenty-fourth of August, Dana came back home. This was the day before Michelle's wedding to Ian Pepper. The plan now was for Dana to return to Edmonton the next day and I was to stay behind. We already had our home rented out. I was to follow in about a week with the children. We were putting our furniture into storage. When we had found living accommodations we would then come back to Vernon and complete our move to Edmonton. However, a major disaster awaited us the day after Michelle and Ian's wedding. We had taken them to the Kelowna airport where they would fly to Las Vegas, Nevada for a week's honeymoon. When we arrived back home we were met with some very bad news. Our home had burned. Thanks to our son John's quick thinking, no one was hurt. John and Todd had been watching television. One son was in our bedroom and the other was watching the television in the living room. They were watching the same show and when they found this out, they decided to both watch in the living room. All of a sudden John turned to Todd and asked him if he could smell something burning. They went and investigated. Sure enough, there was something burning. Our bedroom was on fire. John shut the bedroom door and quickly ran, with Todd beside him, across the road shouting, "FIRE, FIRE, FIRE" into his Grandpa and Grandma's house. He was only ten years old at the time. He dialed the fire department and then he calmed down long enough to tell everyone that, "Yes," our house was on fire. My Dad went right over but it was not a small fire by this time. The fire engines finally arrived. They put the fire out, which was later blamed on our instant-on television. Lana lost her pet hamster in the fire.


Things were in a real turmoil for quite sometime. However, life goes on and we eventually completed our move to Edmonton as we had planned. Dana went back into construction work as a surveyor. About six months after moving to Edmonton, Dana was offered a job in Bonnyville, Alberta. My gosh, would we ever stop moving around like Gypsies! The kids adjusted very well to our new place. Since we had just bought a brand new mobile home in Edmonton, we moved it into a new mobile home park in Bonnyville and this we called "home" for the next two and a half years. On July 1st, 1982 we moved back to Edmonton and have been in the same place ever since. We called upon my brother Bruce just after arriving here. We bought a very old mobile home that needed renovating. At that time Bruce was living in Vancouver and was not too busy, so he flew to Edmonton to build an addition on our place. This addition was almost the same size as the original trailer we bought. He stayed with us till the job was done and then returned to Vancouver.


Since moving to Edmonton life has definitely been hectic! Shortly after moving back, Dana was laid off. At that time he was in the union, still working as a surveyor. The job situation was not very good. Dana decided to start his own business. He picked up a little work here and there, still surveying. In July of 1984, Dana decided to start a sign servicing company as the construction in Alberta had almost come to a standstill. He went to Toronto and bought a used sign truck, and Dana's Sign Service came to be.


I was driving a school bus during this time. In the spring of 1984 we bought a doughnut machine and operated a concession in a flea market that had just opened. The next year started with Dana and myself owning this flea market. We were really busy now. We had the sign shop, bus driving, and flea market plus we ran the food concession in the market. In the spring I decided to stop driving the school bus. Then we decided to lease out our concession -- now Bernie and Don are running it. We are still very busy, though.


In the spring of 1986 we decided to renovate our place again. Bruce, now living in Vernon, came once more to help us with it. We wanted to have it completed before Lana's wedding. She married David Bury on the seventeenth of May, 1986. They have a beautiful baby boy who is just over a year old. They called him Kevin Justin. They are expecting their second child in the spring of 1987. David works for us as a sign installer and Lana periodically works in the office to help us out when we need her. Our son, John, works for us, too. He is also a sign installer, working in the shop as well as on the trucks.


Todd is in Grade ten. He is the athlete in our family. He plays hockey, football, baseball, and has taken up a new sport - golf. Todd has a job in the winter. He works the overhead door of our indoor parking lot in the flea market.


Our future hope would be to slow down our pace, and to enjoy our children and grandchildren to the fullest.


I was the first child born to my parents, Dana and Rachelle. I was born in Vernon, B.C., on May 16, 1968. I remember most of my childhood years as living in B.C. My Grandma French used to pick me up and my two younger brothers from school every day. My dad would pick us up when he was finished work, as by this time, my mother would be at work. Right across from the trailer park was a girlfriend, Roxanne. They had a farm with horses; we all really enjoyed riding. When winter came, the pond would freeze and we would go ice skating. I also recall good times at Uncle Don and Auntie Bernie's place in Vernon, B.C. -- I really enjoyed swimming and they had a pool. All of us kids had fun in the water.


My last memory of Vernon is the day after Uncle Ian and Auntie Michelle's wedding. Our house caught fire. I remember how scared my relatives were because I was at the store with my cousin, Melissa Marsollier. Grandpa Alain, who lived across the street, ran over and tried going up the stairs with a fire extinguisher, and Uncle Richard was also looking for me in the field next to the house. I remember crying so much that somebody passed me baby Martin, my cousin, and he calmed me down. A lot of people were gone to the airport to wish Ian and Michelle a good trip and to sing a little song they made up:


HE'S A PEPPER, SHE'S A PEPPER AND SOON THEY WILL HAVE A BABY PEPPER, TOO, CAUSE YESTERDAY THEY SAID "I DO"


And when my parents came back they were a little upset because they thought us kids had had another water fight, as we used to have them quite often, until they walked into Grandma and Grandpa Alain's. All of us kids were sitting inside and lots of other people, too. We spent the next couple of nights at Uncle Don and Auntie Bernie's.


A couple of weeks later we moved to Edmon-ton and stayed a week or so at Pam Fell's place. After a while we bought a trailer and, during the spring break, we moved to Bonnyville where I finished grades six, seven and eight. I really had fun living there! It's a small town and you know everybody. Everyone is friendly. This is where I met my best friend, Shannon McCulloch. Shan-non and I did everything together, from roll-erskating to playing baseball on the same team.


I played sports in school but I especially liked playing basketball. When I wasn't playing sports I enjoyed babysitting for all the neighbours. I loved doing it because I loved kids so much.


In the summer before I started grade nine, we moved back to Edmonton where we bought another trailer, but it was really small. Mom and Dad had Uncle Bruce come out from Vernon to help them remodel it into a double wide.


I still kept in touch with Shannon ... a few months later Shannon and her family moved to Red Deer, not quite as far away. We saw each other more often.


In February 1982, I ran for the Carnival Queen. I really enjoyed selling the tickets and going to all the meetings. Even though I didn't win, I was first runner-up.


When I was in grade ten I wasn't sure what I wanted; I transferred schools -- just couldn't make up my mind. My mom took me down to the Highway Motor Inn to fill out an application for a job. I started working there a couple of weeks later. I really enjoyed working there except that I didn't like the maintenance crew; two of them really bugged me a lot. At first I hated it, then I got to know them better and it didn't bother me. I started dating one of them, David Bury, on the eighteenth of November.


David and I were married on the seventeenth of May, 1986. It was a very nice wedding, just the right size -- not too small, not too big. Our son, Kevin Justin, was born September 27, 1985. He was a big baby, eight pounds three and a half ounces. Kevin was healthy up until he was three months old. He is now one year old but has an immune deficiency and we are not sure if he will outgrow it. He has to go into the hospital every two to three weeks to get an infusion of his medication. He is starting to walk and to get into everything.


David's daughter, Vanessa , is presently four years old. We enjoy being able to have her on weekends and holidays. We have started to take her bowling, which she enjoys very much.


Now, to make our family complete, we are awaiting the arrival of another baby in April of 1987.


I was the second child born to Dana and Rachelle Toews, on the sixteenth of July, 1969. I was named John Abbott after my father's step-father.


I was an active child, getting into one thing after the other. When I was about six years old, I started bowling in Vernon, B.C., and have con-tinued to do so. I am presently bowling on a Sunday evening league and have entered a few tournaments which I really enjoyed.


We have lived in Alberta since I was ten years old, first in Edmonton, then in Bonnyville, and have returned to Edmonton, where we have lived for five years. I enjoyed living in Bonnyville the best of all the places we have lived. The town was small and everyone was very friendly. I joined hockey but quickly realized that I'd much rather be bowling.


When I was ten years old, the day after my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Ian's wedding, our house caught fire. I was the one that spotted the fire and got my brother Todd out of the house quickly. I ran across the street to Grandpa Alain's and dialed the Fire Department. I was praised afterwards for my quick actions and thinking.


Presently, I am working as a sign installer for Dad's company, Dana's Sign Service . I am still living at home and enjoy my work. I look for-ward to the future when I hope to learn all aspects of the sign business and maybe have a sign busi-ness of my own one day.


I was born September 21, 1971 in Vernon, B.C. where we lived for the first six years of my life. We then moved to Edmonton for a year and then on to Bonnyville, Alberta.


Bonnyville's the place where my love for sports began. I first played soccer and loved it, then I played baseball which was another good sport. I started hockey and played in Bonnyville for two years. I got fairly good and was dubbed ''Twinkle Toes'' for obvious reasons.


We moved back to Edmonton after three years. It was hard for me to leave -- I liked living in Bonnyville. It was the best place I'd ever lived in with many good, good friends. When we moved to Edmonton I thought it was horrible, such a big city for a little boy. I guess the best thing about it was that I could still play hockey. I joined up for hockey just as the school year started. I was in grade six, going to St. Elizabeth School. I didn't know anyone but I soon made many good friends that made me forget about Bonnyville.


Then it was on to junior high school at St. Hilda's. Hockey was really going good now; I was playing on the team that my Dad coached. I scored about fifty goals and got many trophies and medals. My grades weren't super good in junior high but they got me by. In grade nine I was playing Double ''B'' and doing pretty well. I then finished junior high and it was off to high school.


In high school I played football and had a good year. At present in high school where I am right now (in 1986 - 1987), I'm having a great year.


In writing this, I have presently fractured my kneecap so, for about two to three months of this hockey season, I won't be able to play. My plans for the future would be to finish high school and play hockey for as long as I can. I would also like to be a police officer.


In Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, on April 19, 1956, Louis and Clara Alain were blessed with yet another girl, me, Michelle Marie. What a day! Seven kids, and another girl to boot. Not that my early childhood was anything but exciting, I have very little recollection of those years.


However, I do remember, and still see, my friend and twin Linda Fraser (Haniak). Our mothers shared a room in the Hudson Bay Hospital; we were born on the same day. Until our sixth birthdays we always celebrated them together. Mom sewed us identical party dresses.


The first real memory I have was at age five when I fell on the skid of a granary trying to feed a new calf. As if that was not bad enough, the crying was thought to be that of pigs, so rescue was some time in coming. Later that year, all healed, I was flowergirl for my sister, Maxine, and her husband, Elliott Prentice, on October 28, 1961.


On my seventh birthday, 1963, the family packed up our belongings; left the farm and headed West!! So, with the help of Raymond Smith, Mom, Dad, Joey and I moved to Vernon. I got to ride in the truck with Raymond Smith. Vernon was a great place to live; Dad bought five acres in the BX area and built our first house in Vernon.


In 1964 we moved to Golden, B.C. for ten months while Dad worked in the mill. It was then back to Vernon and the second house on the BX property. It was around this time that our family left its mark on Vernon. Dad subdivided the five acres and put in a paved road, Alain Road. The next few years seemed to fly...from skinning my knees on the playground at St. James School to learning to ski at Silver Star. At St. James, shoes didn't seem to last more than a couple of months -- the playground pavement took its toll on everything.


Mom and Dad were always very good to us kids, those still at home, that is. Every summer was spent travelling to visit relatives and friends, going camping or going fishing. We had fun! I always had lots of new clothes to wear; Mom could sew anything and very well.


Following my sister Rachelle's footsteps, I spent three years with the Vernon Girl's Trumpet Band, travelling and competing in B.C., Alberta and a few other places in Canada and the United States.


My formative years living on Alain Road in Vernon were not only busy but also exciting; the neighbourhood was like one big family and, to this day, often find reasons to get together. Joey and I, along with many relatives and friends, would often (on the weekends) sneak into the Drive-In through the loose boards at the back to watch the shows. None of us had cars so this was the only way we could get in, not to mention the fact that it was also free.


When I turned sixteen and got my learner's licence, Dad taught me to drive in his Toyota Corolla; I later bought that car. Once I had my licence, Dad would let me borrow the car on Friday or Saturday nights, but not before he checked the mileage on the car -- I guess he didn't want us going to Vancouver for a Coke!! From what I remember, all us girls ever did was cruise up and down Main Street all night; we used to call it Pulling Mainers!


At seventeen, it was time to experience the big city. I went to live with Bernie, my sister, her husband, Don Adrian, and family in Coquitlam. I worked there for awhile and then, on the advice of Mom, applied for a job at Manning Park Lodge. And so, on December 17, 1973, I became an employee of the British Columbia Govern-ment. I met Ian Pepper. There he was, not long out of England, his place of birth, working with the in-crowd at B.C. Parks -- oh, I was in love! For the happy ending you have to wait; much will happen in the meantime.


In May of 1974, Carole Wendel, a friend from Vernon, and I made a trip across Canada in my Toyota Corolla. This proved to be the beginning of my travels. It took us three months to go coast to coast; for a couple of young girls, what an exciting trip! After the trip across the country, I went back to Manning Park, saved my money, and went to Hawaii for two weeks with Bernie. Fun in the sun! By this time I was nineteen.


Now back to Ian -- we began seeing a lot of each other. This lasted for quite a while until, one day, he decided he was too young to get married and that would have been next. Can you imagine an old guy of twenty-two, too young to marry? And so, with many tears and a broken heart, we split up.


I found I could no longer work at Manning, too many memories, so at twenty the next stage of my life began. I moved to Edmonton, by way of Vernon for a few months, and again took up residence with Bernie and Don. I took a job at the Corkscrew Restaurant as a waitress; the pay was nothing to write home about, but the tips were great. It seemed that during the boom times in Alberta, everyone was a big tipper; it made a so-so job really worthwhile. By working hard at the Corkscrew, I managed to save enough money to go to Europe for a few months. That trip had to be one of the major highlights of my life -- swimming in the Dead Sea, waking to a camel nibbling on my sleeping bag while camped under the stars on the Sinai Desert. London, Paris,


Amsterdam, Lisbon, Rome, and Athens -- the places and the sights kept me in awe. I phoned home from Athens on my twenty-first birthday; well, with the time difference, it was close any-way. I guess it made me a little homesick, I had been away for four months and it was now time to head for home -- Canada, that is. I went back to work at the Corkscrew and it paid my rent while I trained as a travel agent.


In August of 1978, I made a trip to Van-couver, a holiday in my van, and who should I run into but my old beau, Ian Pepper. Well, we had some fun for a week or so before I had to return to Edmonton. When I called Mom to tell her where I was, she already knew -- Mother's intuition! A long-distance relationship con-tinued for a while and, on December 17, 1978, I moved to Vancouver to be with Ian. I worked a little that winter and, on March 6, 1979, Ian presented me with a ring and a glass of cham-pagne at Lynn Canyon Park; that was, of course, after he had phoned Yuma, Arizona, to ask Dad's permission...thankfully, he said, "Yes"! Or maybe it was " Please, Ian "; I couldn't say. With time before the wedding, I accepted a job with B.C. Tourism on the Royal Hudson Train as a Tour Hostess. We travelled on it all over B.C. and Alberta, Canada, and Idaho and Wash-ington, U.S.A. That was a great experience, dressing in a costume of the 1920s and greeting thousands of people each day during the two-month tour. The tour finished May Day week-end. I moved back to Vernon to live with Mom and Dad until the wedding.


Before I actually get to our wedding in this story, I want to add a little of Ian's background. Ian was born on December 4, 1953, in a town called Southend-on-Sea in the county of Essex, England. Southend is a seaside town on the mouth of the River Thames. One grandfather was a builder and the other was a retired London policeman who ran a pub. Ian was told that two of his great grandfathers, who were loggers, came to Canada to log for the timbers used in building the C.P.R. trestles on the new railway through the Rockies. One of his early memories goes back to days before he could walk; his Dad could not go to work until they had gone down to the railway bridge to wave to the engineers -- they knew them and they always waved back. Ian still has a great passion for steam locomotives.


This could be another story itself so I will skip to 1967 when, in October, Ian's family said good-bye to all their family and friends and came to Canada aboard the CPR ship, the Empress of England.


The Peppers made their home in Victoria, B.C. Ian's family still live there. Ian's Dad is the Director of Social Services at Royal Jubilee Hospital and his Mom is a Ward Clerk in the same hospital. Ian went through high school in Victoria and on to the University of Victoria.


Ian liked working for the B.C. Parks every summer and so, in his second year at the University of Victoria, dropped out and went to work full-time for the Parks at Manning Park where he met me.


After a lot of work and planning, with a great deal of help from everyone, our wedding day finally came. August 25, 1979, Ian and I were married at St. James Catholic Church in Vernon. We had a wonderful day with all of my brothers and sisters and most of our other relatives and friends able to be there. Who could ever forget the car full of puffed wheat, paid for by my father!!


After our honeymoon in Las Vegas, we made our home in Clearwater, B.C. Ian still works with the B.C. Parks and was working then at Wells Gray Park.


Both of our children were born in Royal Inland Hospital at Kamloops while we were living in Clearwater, B.C.: Cassidy Alain, our daughter, on July 31, 1981, and Cody Charles, our son, on May 5, 1983. What a big change in my life...a mother!


In September 1985, Ian won a competition for a promotion to a position in the Shuswap. On October 31, 1985, the moving truck arrived at 7:30 a.m. and we moved to Chase, B.C. Ian is now in charge of all the marine parks on Shuswap Lake and loves it. I am a full-time mother and a part-time teller at the Credit Union. Cassidy is starting Kindergarten this year (September 1986) and Cody will be in playschool.


In the fall of 1986 we had the opportunity to plan and build our own home. Christmas will be spent, this year, enjoying our brand new home in Salmon Arm, B.C.


I was gifted with fine parents and I have found them to be the most loving, caring parents any girl could hope for. As well, because they live nearby, my children are having the opportunity to know their grandparents and share many memorable moments with them.


I also feel I have the best brothers and sisters in the world as we are so very close to each other. For me, our family gatherings are very precious.


What does the future hold? We can only dream and plan and take what comes!


I was born in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, February 5, 1959. I am the eighth and lastborn child of Louis and Clara Alain. Since I was only four years old when we moved out of Hudson Bay, my memories of my place of birth are not that vivid. A couple of incidents I do remember shall be with me always. I remember running across the field to Nicholls with my youngest sister, Michelle. The snow was up to my waist and it seemed like it took forever to get there.


Another incident I remember is when we had an auction on the farm. It seemed like the whole town turned out for the occasion. This would turn out to be the last few days that I would live on the farm at Veillardville.


After moving to Vernon, B.C., we moved to Golden, B.C., in 1963 and lived in a trailer court. Dad worked in a sawmill where he was a millwright. I started Kindergarten in Golden the second year we were there. I remember we used to have a lot of fun playing in the large slough out back of our trailer, a few hundred yards away. All of us kids in the trailer court couldn't wait for the Fuller Brush man to come for he always had little toys for us.


In 1965 we moved back to Vernon, B.C. I started school at B.X. Elementary. I attended school there for one year and then we transferred to Saint James School for grades 2 through 7. During this time, I made a lot of friends such as our Flasch cousins, Wayne Brown, Jamie Wendl, our Bru cousins, and a very close friend of mine, Brian Mittlesteadt, whom I met the very first day we moved to Vernon. Brian and I did everything together from playing in the sandbox to taking girls out after we got our driver's licences. I always looked forward to going to Brian's place for dinner because Brian's mom was such a fantastic cook. I swear I would gain five pounds every time I ate there.


A great time of year back then was Hallowe'en, when all the families in our neighborhood used to take turns having Hallowe'en bonfires. Everyone would get together and bring fireworks and, of course, all the kids would have the goodies they had collected trick or treating. We would all sit around the fire sipping hot chocolate and watching the fireworks.


During the winter, all the kids and parents would go to Cool's pond and go skating. We would all pitch in and clear the snow off the pond before anyone could skate, then we'd get our hockey sticks and have a game of hockey.


In 1972 I started grade 8 at Foulton Jr. Secondary in Vernon. It was a great place to go to school since the school was on the grounds of Polson Park. I'll always remember our art projects. They were so much fun. We got to go out into the park and sketch trees, birds, etc.


I enjoyed playing hockey during my school years in Vernon. Ice time was not always convenient. I remember Dad driving me to the arena at 6:00 in the morning. I would go to school straight from there.


During the summer I played golf at Spallumcheen Golf Course. I used to hitchhike out to the golf course and sometimes play fifty-four holes a day. Grades 9 and 10, I went to W.I. Seaton Jr. Secondary School in Vernon. I started work at the end of grade 10, working at different places such as Fauquier, B.C.; Castlegar, B.C.; and Calgary, Alta. I worked for Boston Pizza in Vernon, then transferred to Boston Pizza in Chilliwack, B.C., where I worked for a couple of years. I then moved back to Vernon in 1979 for a short while. When I left Vernon, I moved to Salmon Arm and worked a month at Giant Submarine until I found work at Co-Op Federated Plywood Mill in Canoe, B.C., just a few miles from Salmon Arm. I started February 6, 1979, and am still working there now.


In March 1983 I met my wife-to-be, Bonnie Salamandyk. The following year we were married on July 21st in Enderby, B.C. On February 12, 1985, we had our first baby, Joseph Stephen Louis . We also have a daughter by Bonnie's previous marriage, Lanie Carolyn Salamandyk, and a son, Jeremy Keith Salamandyk, who lives in Prince George with his father. Lanie was born August 19, 1972, and Jeremy on January 14, 1974. At the time of this story, September 1985, we reside in Salmon Arm, B.C.


(by Marlyne and Maxine, nieces of Yvonne)


Yvonne's recollections of her early years are:


"As I remember growing up in the little berg of Delmas, they were carefree days, school, chores, and play."


"After we moved to Veillardville in 1928 there was so much work to do and everyone had to pitch in, the girls as well as the boys."


However, their days were not entirely spent working as the following incident, related by one of Yvonne's brothers proves:


"One day Ed Barry and Smokey had cut their hair all off and Ed turned to Rolland, who had a nice head of hair and was watching all of this from a distance, and said to him, 'You're next.' Away Rolland went upstairs."


"Yvonne came down after a while and said, 'Go sneak upstairs and see what Rolland is doing.' There he was on the bed with a pillowcase tied around his head. No one was going to touch his hair - he was protected!"


Yvonne married Raymond Turcotte on March 4, 1930. They lived in Hudson Bay, then moved to Flin Flon and later to Vancouver, B.C. Yvonne and Raymond had two girls and two boys. Each died at a young age: Joan at two and a half months; Neil at eight years; Darlene at birth; and Bruce who died at four years of age. Raymond died in 1944.


On June 1, 1951 Yvonne married Harry Wyman. They made several trips out to Saskatchewan and elsewhere to visit family. Marlyne remembers their excitement and happiness as they explored Louis' small acreage in Vernon, B.C. In fact, Yvonne and Harry were one of the first visitors Clara and Louis had in their new home. Although Harry fought gallantly over many years to combat cancer, he died August 14, 1975.


Then on December 16, 1977, Yvonne married Pat O'Brien, a postman in the Vancouver area. The family fondly remembers them attending the Alain reunions. We were shocked and saddened with the news of Pat's sudden death June 4, 1983.


To many of us (her nieces) growing up in Veillardville, we recall Aunt Yvonne's visits among us as happy times with much laughter, story telling and yes, even the occasional prank.


We remember Grandma Alain eagerly awaiting the weekly letter from Yvonne. These letters were usually filled with cartoons and many jokes. Grandma then shared them with other family members.


In spite of the sadness that has touched Yvonne's life, she has maintained her happy disposition through the years. She is to us an aunt we admire and respect.


As with other members of her family, Yvonne is enjoying her retirement years by travelling to various parts of the country, sightseeing and visiting with family.


A family is a deeply rooted tree with branches of different strengths, all receiving nourishment from an infinite source.


A family is where character is found and formed, values learned, ethics created and society preserved.


A family is where all members contribute and share, co-operate and work, and accept their responsibilities toward the good of the group.


A family is where holidays are celebrated with feasting, birthdays with gifts, and thoughts of days gone by kept alive with fond remembrances.


A family is where each can find solace and comfort in grief, pleasure and laughter in joy, and kindness and encouragement in daily living.


A family is a haven of rest, a sanctuary of peace and most of all, a harbor of love.


In the spring of 1928, at the age of 15, we moved to Hudson Bay. We shipped our belongings on the train. For every boxcar of "Settlers Effects", one family member was given a free pass to ride in the boxcar or the caboose. One cousin told me I was too young to look after the cattle and horses, so he took the pass. They made a little tunnel in the car for me to hide in each time we stopped at a station. My cousin and Smokey would go downtown at every station and I'd have to sweat it out in the tunnel!


When we reached Veillardville, I had to sleep with Dad and the Head Carpenter, both of whom were covered with lice!


I was made head cook by Dad. One day I decided to use dried peas for lunch (everything else was in tins). I didn't realize you had to soak the peas first - I put them on at 11:45 and called them in for dinner at noon. Bernier started to eat them and got a nosebleed!!


I had taken most of my schooling in French in Delmas; after moving to Veillardville I only went to school for 2 or 3 years and then quit to help Dad.


For about 4 or 5 falls, I would go back to Delmas to help thresh. When I was 17, I bought a pony and rode bareback to Veillardville.


I tried my hand at several jobs around Veillardville. During hard times the government bought sawdust for the grasshopper problem. Eddie Davidson and I loaded 20 railcars but ate up most of the payment in chocolate bars and Coke.


One winter Eddie and I cut wood but realized there wasn't a lot of money in it. I also worked for Dad in his sawmill.


One year Lester Turcotte offered me a job working on road construction at Denaire Beach (near Flin Flon). Dad let me take a team of horses which I shipped up. I worked on road construc-tion all fall, logged in the winter and then shipped the horses back in the spring.


I rode the freights and ended up in East Malartic, Quebec, where I worked at odd jobs and in a restaurant before getting a job at the mine. I worked for 3 years.


Because of my bad arm, I wasn't allowed to fight in the war. Instead, I went out to Vancouver to work in the shipyards. I then went west to work at Copper Mountain, B.C.


The Cockwills were a family from Regina who had 3 daughters. I took Verna Cockwill to a dance but, because I didn't know how to dance, Smokey took over. I learned how to dance shortly after that, from my sisters.


I went out with Elsie Cockwill for about 6 years but, when I went east, we forgot about each other. When I came back to Veillardville, I started going out with Yvonne Veillard. She had been born in The Pas but was raised in Veillardville. She was from quite a religious fam-ily.


I went out to work on a ranch in Clunie, Alberta, for a few months and when I returned, Yvonne and I got married. When we were first married, we farmed with Louis Veillard and worked on our homestead.


One year Yvonne cooked for the men who worked for Spruce Products. The next year Vic Murdoch took over this job and Yvonne and I started a cafe in Louis Veillard's store called Red's Bar.


We worked on our own farm in the spring when Simone was born. I also worked on the railroad for about 3 years and then I quit to farm full time. We farmed 6 quarters until our oldest son Mo (Maurice) went into the Navy, and then we sold some land.


ALAIN—VEILLARD St. Anthony's Church, Veillard-ville, was the scene of a lovely wed-ding when Marie Yvonne, daugh-ter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Veillard, became the bride of Mr. Rolland Alain. The ceremony was per-formed by Rev. Father Gerard Van Vynckt. The bride, who was lovely in a gown of white lace and net over taffeta, was given in marriage by her father. Her full length veil of net fell from a sweetheart halo. She carried a bouquet of roses and carnations. Miss Therese Veillard was maid of honor. She wore pink point d'esprit net over taffeta. Her hat was a sweetheart halo with match-ing chapel veil. She carried carna-tions and tulips. Miss Edithe Alain was bridesmaid. She wore pale green point d'esprit net over taf-feta with matching hat and chapel veil. She carried carnations and tulips. The two flower girls, Lor-raine Godin and Dawn Alain, were dressed alike in pale blue and pale yellow point d'esprit net over taf-feta. Mr. Paul Alain and Mr. Gene Lessard assisted the groom. Mrs. Pat Mondor rendered a beautiful solo accompanied by Mrs. M. C. Marcotte, who presided at the organ. A reception followed at the home of the bride's parents.


Starting in 1960, I drove the school bus for the next 22 years and then retired in 1982.


While we lived in Veillardville, we enjoyed taking advantage of Dad's good nature. One night after supper Dad sat down to read his newspaper. Without him seeing, I lit his paper on fire and then ran outside to watch through the window. What a sight!


Another time, I filled Dad's pipe alternately with tobacco and pepper. That night he smoked and sneezed and sneezed but never caught on.


We entertained ourselves by going to dances, playing ball and going on picnics.


Rolland and Yvonne's family is as follows:


Simone was born on May 5, 1944, to Rolland and Yvonne Alain. She has six brothers and sisters: Maurice, Roger, Denis, Rosanne, Jeannine and Lisa. Simone went to White Poplar for elementary school and to Zenon Park Convent for Grades 9, 10 and 11. She probably would have taken her Grade 12 there also, had it not been for the fact that her father, Rolland, began driving the school bus so Simone finished her schooling in Hudson Bay. After graduating in 1961, she moved to Moose Jaw where she lived with her uncle and aunt, Maurice and Maxine Veillard, and their family. She took a one-year secretarial course at Peacock Technical High School and, upon completion, found employment as a secretary at The Royal Bank of Canada in Moose Jaw. A few years later, she met Howie and they were married in 1966.


Howie Shouldice was born August 22, 1942, the oldest son of Elmer and Ruby Shouldice. He has a sister, Elsie, and a brother, Gordon. He has always lived in Moose Jaw and spent most of his summers as a young boy on his uncle's farm near Parkbeg, Saskatchewan.


In 1967 Howie and Simone had a daughter, Jody, and in 1975 another daughter, Karlee, was born. Howie has worked for C.P. Rail since 1970 and Simone has been with The Royal Bank since 1962 except for two years when Karlee was born.


Jody graduated from high school in June 1985 but didn't go to school in the fall because she was undecided as to what to take and where to go. She's working fulltime at Kentucky Fried Chicken (she's been there for nearly three years). She's applied to the University of Saskatchewan - St. Thomas More College - to take social work but hasn't heard yet if she's been accepted for the 1986 semester.


Karlee will be going into Grade 6 the fall of 1986.


Mo (Maurice does not exist anymore) is Rolland and Yvonne's number one son. His first three years of school were at White Poplar in Veillardville. Grades 4 to 12 were in Hudson Bay. He then joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1969, spending most of his five-year enlistment on HMCS Annapolis. In 1974, he returned to "civvy street." He took a seven-month pre-employment electrical course in Moose Jaw. He has been in Yellowknife since 1975. He is older now, still wise and, therefore, not single!


Mo and Gloria Stang (originally from Saskatoon) were married May 23, 1984, at Longitude 67°, 49' North, Latitude 94° 52' West near the Arctic Coast, N.W.T. They reside on the farm at Veillardville, Saskatchewan, and on May 14, 1986, they became the proud parents of a baby boy named Ben Stang.


Roger took over farming his father's land and lives in Veillardville during the farming season – the remainder of the year is spent working in the Far North. He considers himself a Jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Roger enjoys leather work and has made various articles of clothing. He repairs footwear when called upon, using the old equipment once belonging to Albert Bernier.


Denis , Rolland and Yvonne's youngest son, graduated from high school in 1973. He worked on the construction of Hudson Bay's plywood plant for a year prior to taking a seven-month pre-employment electrical course in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He moved up to Yellowknife, N.W.T., in the fall of 1975 where he is presently employed as an electrician. He enjoys combining family visits with annual B.C. ski trips! Denis married Donna Nash of Moose Jaw on January 24, 1984, at Gayndah, Queensland, Australia. On August 27, 1986, they had a girl, Tess Marie Nash, at Yellowknife, N.W.T., where they presently reside.


Rosanne is Rolland and Yvonne's second daughter, following Denis in order. After obtaining her degree at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, she has taught in St. Walburg, Turtleford and Yellowknife.


Rosanne married Larry Pavloff on April 11, 1985, at Crystal Gardens, Victoria, B.C. Larry's parents farm near Saskatoon.


Rosanne and Larry reside in Saskatoon, Sask. where she works for the Saskatoon School Board in a pilot project involving a day care centre.


Jeannine , the second youngest in Rolland and Yvonne's family, was born on July 28, 1958. She took all of her schooling in Hudson Bay and then went on to the University of Saskatchewan for a four-year Education degree. She moved to Yellowknife where she began her third year of teaching.


At the time of this writing, Jeannine is living in Inuvik, N.W.T. and is working in a travel agency. She married Ted Curtis of Inuvik on June 28, 1986, in Veillardville, Sask.


Lisa was born in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, on May 13, 1963, the youngest of Rolland and Yvonne's children. Upon completion of high school, Lisa attended Olds College in Alberta and received her Diploma of Horticulture. Lisa participated in an exchange program to Australia where she worked at a citrus nursery.


She has worked at the Forestry Farm Park in Saskatoon during her fourth year. At the present time, she is living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where she has found employment.


** Update: The summer of 1986 saw Rosanne and Larry Pavloff travelling to Tokyo, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Hong Kong, Japan; and then back to Vancouver. At each place Larry played ball with the Saskatoon All-O-Matics. They played eleven games, won nine, and tied two. **


Then Rosanne and Larry, after taking a year's leave of absence will go to Wellington, on North Island, New Zealand where Larry will be playing fastball, likely coaching. Rosanne will look for work. After the year, Larry will return to Allan, Saskatchewan, to teach Physical Education in the school.


Ed. Note: Following a lengthy illness, Rolland passed away in Hudson Bay Union Hospital on Nov. 13, 1986.


I believe a man's greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.


I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person's character.


I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honorable way a man can spend his days on this earth.


I believe farming nurtures the close family ties that make life rich in ways money can't buy.


I believe my children are learning values that will last a lifetime and can be learned in no other way.


I believe farming provides education for life and that no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.


I believe many of the best things in life are indeed free: the splendour of a sunrise, the rapture of wide open spaces, the exhilarating sight of your land greening each spring.


I believe true happiness comes from watching your crops ripen in the field, your children grow tall in the sun, your whole family feel the pride that springs from their shared experience.


I believe that by my toil I am giving more to the world than I am taking from it, an honor that does not come to all men.


I believe my life will be measured ultimately by what I have done for my fellowman, and by this standard I fear no judgement.


I believe when a man grows old and sums up his days, he should be able to stand tall and feel pride in the life he's lived.


I believe in farming because it makes all this possible.


North West Farmer.Rancher , III:6 (Battleford, Sask.: Battlefords News Optimist ; 13 May, 1986), p. 1.


I was born on October 27, 1915, in North Battleford and registered Marie Paule Jeanne Alain - this is the name on my birth certificate. However, my pension cheques come in a variety of spellings - Marie, Mary, etc. but at the medical clinic in Flin Flon, I am known as just Mary.


My godfather is Uncle Edward Alain (Dad's brother) and Aunt Matilda Devlin (Mother's sister) is my godmother.


When I was old enough, I was sent off to school in Delmas with the others. I completed my grades 6, 7 and 8 in Veillardville at White Poplar School. School work was not too bad for me, especially geometry, but algebra - I just couldn't understand it and had great difficulty with it.


We all had chores to do. I was known as the chore girl and because of that, I hardly did any work in the house. I don't think I ever did dishes as the other girls did that. You had to have some of the family working outside. We couldn't all be in the house as, by then, the older boys were out in the bush so Rolland and I did most of the chores - milking the cows, shovelling the barn, looking after the pigs, and hauling water.


In Delmas we milked three cows and we had a very little barn for them. In fact, there was only room for his cow and mine. Rolland sat in between the two cows and he would poke my cow every now and then. I'd get mad at him quite often. We fought a lot in those days. One day, as we were fighting there in the barn, Dad came round the corner and caught us. I told him my problem and all he said was, "I'm going back to the house and you milk your cow." It took me a long time but I finally milked my cow.


One winter after we moved to Veillardville, we had to haul water from Veillard's old place which was approximately a half mile away. It was either haul water or melt snow and you know if the animals drink snow water, they drink to beat sixty. In those days we weren't dressed like we are today and it was cold. Of course my Dad was smart. He said, "I'll give you kids $5.00 a week each." We thought we were well off to get money like that. If I remember correctly, I got five dollars only once.


Our family had been in the Veillardville community only a few years when the Menzies family moved in and that was when I met Angus. Shortly after our meeting, he got work in Flin Flon with a baker and then went to The Pas. I followed him up there and stayed at my sister Yvonne's place for awhile. It was here in Flin Flon that Angus and I were married on January 7, 1933. The witnesses at our wedding were Yvonne and Raymond Turcotte. I came back to live in Veillardville while Angus worked for The Pas Lumber Company at The Pas. I was wishing he could have found a little place for all of us to live up there. However, after a few years, The Pas Lumber Company started to slacken off and Angus and his brother-in-law, Harry Bull, went to Flin Flon where work was found and we all moved up there. Angus got work with the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company and did a variety of jobs, ending up as a timekeeper. In all, he worked 31 years and retired in 1972.


We lived in a number of homes. One was built over a giant rock close to the railroad tracks. It was not very big but we were very happy there. It was also close to my sister Bertha's place. Our last move was to our present home in Channing.


In the summer, the children loved going swimming at Phantom Lake and so many lunches were packed. Bertha and I used to make root beer by the dozens as the kids loved it and thought it quite a treat. It was also much cheaper than buying cold drinks.


One year Bertha made a batch of 36 bottles and, for some reason, she left the house for awhile. When she returned, she discovered, much to her surprise, that Allen and Bob had opened every one of the 36 bottles and poured it down the drain. Of course, it had all bubbled up which was probably lots of fun to watch for both of them. But for Bertha, this meant hours of hard work had all gone down the drain. She proceeded to look for the culprits in order that they be punished for their actions.


Angus and I raised seven children. The eldest is Ron who has lived and worked in Calgary until recently. His daughter, Kari-Lou, is employed with an oil consulting firm in Calgary. She is presently training to be an Olympic judge for the biathlon event in 1988. She still finds time for curling and basketball. Ron's son, Kyle, gradu ated from high school with honors and is studying Art at the Alberta College of Art. His yearbook displayed his unique artwork and talent.


Darlene lives in Langley, B.C. where she and her husband, Roman Marchina, own and operate a number of restaurants in B.C. Their children are Ramona, who operates one of the family restaurants; Gina, who was recently married to Graham Holliday; Laura; Mario, their only son; and 19-year-old Carla.


Our second son is Neil . He lives in Vancouver and is a commercial accountant.


Bob and Trudy and their two children, Nicole and Trevor, live in Flin Flon. Bob is a tandem truck driver in northern Manitoba.


Keith and Edith live in Waterville, Nova Scotia. Their family includes Aidan and twins, Todd and Kendra. Keith is the King's County Hospital administrator while Edith nurses at their local hospital.


Joanne works at The Bay in Flin Flon. She has a daughter, Kristy Lynne.


Brenda is married to Robin Jackson. They are parents to Aaron and live in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where Robin teaches and Brenda works in the Bank of Commerce.


Once Angus was retired he never enjoyed good health and so we travelled very little. We celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary in the summer of 1982 with all of our family. Angus died on March 12, 1983. Since retiring, I've had time to do embroidery, reading, watching TV, as well as travelling to such places as Reno; Texas; Nova Scotia; Yellowknife, NWT; and to the west coast, a number of times.


In July 1936 my sister, Yvonne, and her husband, Raymond Turcotte, were living in Flin Flon. While they were away for a holiday in B.C. I was left to care for their two sons, Bruce and Neil. My girlfriend, Ann, came over to visit with me and she happened to see Paul Marsollier walking uptown. She called him in and introduced me to him. I thought, "Wow, what a city slicker" because he was so slicked up and well dressed. He was working at the nickel mine as a zinc stripper. We liked each other right from the start and, by December, we were engaged and married the following year, right there in Flin Flon.


Our marriage took place at 7 A.M. on Wednesday, December 8, 1937 - it was 40° below zero! I recall there were three other weddings that day and we must have been the bravest to be married so early in the day. Later on in the day, we took the train to Hudson Bay where someone was to meet us and take us out to Dad's farm at Veillardville. We were actually met by a large number of the family who had travelled by horse and caboose - so at least it was warm.


Following a brief honeymoon, we returned to Flin Flon where we lived in a number of homes including a log cabin near Phantom Lake.


Paul and I raised three boys and one girl. We now enjoy visiting the children and grandchildren.


Paul worked at Hudson Bay Mining and Smelter Company for 44 years. He retired in 1973 and, since then, has been enjoying his retirement. For years now, we have motored south in our Volkswagon Van. In Phaar, Texas, we spend many hours dancing, playing cards, golfing, swimming and playing shuffleboard.


[The editors share the following incident from Berthe's youth with you.]


Berthe's brother, Rolland, liked nothing better than to trick someone. One example is the joke he pulled on Berthe and their brother, Paul, when they were both youngsters. Rolland announced to the two that the herd law passed the first of the month. When Berthe asked the time, Rolland replied, "At 10:00 A.M. tomorrow morning." So Berthe and Paul rose early the following morning and stood patiently by the window waiting to see the herd law pass by!


Norbert – born July 3, 1939 – Flin Flon, Manitoba. – married Shirley Allen April 15, 1961 in Flin Flon. Their children: Michelle – born January 12, 1962 Marcia– born March 10, 1963 Melinda – born April 21, 1964 Melissa – born February 29, 1967 Norbert and Shirley are presently residing in Kamloops, British Columbia.


Roger – born February 24, 1941 – Flin Flon, Manitoba. – married Suzanne Ferland January 8, 1974.


Their children: Clinton – born February 28, 1976 Renee– born May, 1976 Roger (construction) and Suzanne (nursing) are presently employed and living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.


Allen – born September 6, 1948 – Flin Flon, Manitoba. – married Paulette Tomychuk April 15, 1971. Their children: Cameron – born December 9, 1973 Gillian – born October 8, 1975 Allen, Paulette and family make their home in Calgary, Alberta.


Cathy – born March 16, 1955 – Flin Flon, Manitoba. Cathy took her teacher training and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon. She has taught in northern Saskatchewan and at other points in the province. Cathy's life has held a great deal of variety from a swimming instructor to advanced studies in the French language to world travel.


Married John Brophy Dec 14 1987. Brigitte Brophy born Dec 30 - 1988


I, Paul Emile Michael Joseph Alain, was born October 6, 1920, in the Battleford Hospital in Saskatchewan. I was the tenth and last child of Henry and Alma Alain. We lived in Delmas and I don't remember a whole lot.


When I was three years old, Mom and I went to the farm at Uncle Pete's. They had a lot of horses and their big crop was hay. They had a big water trough and there was lots of geese swimming around; of course, they were my pets. Uncle Pete came in after work and he took a tin can and threw it, hitting one in the head and killing it. Well, I never forgot it. Uncle Pete came here to Kamloops to visit a stepdaughter and phoned me. He said, "I'm one of your uncles, the one that killed the goose!" Oh! I remembered him.


The big house in Delmas was two and a half storeys tall. It was a brick house and had no insulation in those days. I remember it being very cold despite central heating. We'd gather around the big register to get warm. There were six bedrooms; us kids all slept upstairs. There was a nice bannister with a cushion at the end and we all slid down it in the mornings. The house was finished in tongue-and-groove on the inside. It had an attic with big windows and a stairway leading to the roof. Of course, we were told never to go up there but we did once in awhile anyway.


In Delmas the Nuns were running the school. One day they were upstairs looking out at the sidewalk leading from the school to the street. We would go home for dinner because we never lived very far away. Well, Paul Morin (a cousin), Martin Lessard and I all hung around together. Paul was bigger than us and he said, “We aren’t going through the gate today; we’re going to the corner and jump the fence to save time.”


We said, “No,” but he was bigger and, I guess, like our boss so we jumped the fence. Well, the Nuns saw us and, when we came back at noon, we were called in. One of the Nuns told me I disobeyed and asked me why.


I said, “If I didn’t, Paul would give me a lickin’.” So she took the strap and gave Paul a couple of good whacks. Then she asked Martin the same and he said the same thing so Paul got another couple of whacks and we were let go. Then Paul’s turn came and he got a third lickin’. But on the way home Paul gave Martin and I a lickin’ in return.


Martin and I had started school together, although he was a year younger than I. Our education was all in French then; in the older grades, I believe they slowly switched to English.


I left Delmas at eight years of age and we settled at Veillardville across from the school. My dad, Louis, Rolland and Smokey went ahead of us and built the house. They left in the fall and we came later in the spring. We got off in Hudson Bay because the train wouldn’t stop in Veillardville. There was a guy there – Smokey’d know his name. He used Louis Strasser’s Model T Ford and Smokey took my dad’s and they met up and brought us to the farm. We arrived around eleven or twelve at night and Dad opened the door of the old shack and Mother looked around, not too pleased; but when she saw the new house she smiled a bit. But you know! She left a huge house with power and everything behind for this.


Well, us kids were excited though. We got up real early the next day and ran behind the barn and met our own creek. We couldn’t get over that. In Delmas we never had a creek. We even had our own trees to climb here. This was the start of our life in Veillardville. We weren’t there too long before Dad was on the school board as Trustee, etc.


While going to school there I met Reine but, of course, I didn’t like her then; she was three years younger. How the years changed my heart. I had met her brother Wilfred before but Reine, her mother and brother Lester came much later. I went to school with Clara, Mae Strasser, Gene and more. We were around fifty-two pupils, I was told. Some of my teachers were Nellie Barteluk, MacIntosh, Mildred Beaudoin, Miss Senecal and Phillippe Le Scelleur. When Nellie Barteluk was teaching, Smokey broke the land at the school with the John Deere tractor Dad had bought. Us kids would go at night and pick the roots. Nellie Barteluk organized us.


We weren’t allowed to have paper around our desks and, one day, I had some there but it belonged to Llewellyn Smith and Henry Bozak. So my punishment was to sweep the floor with Reine. I said I wouldn’t, so I was sent home. The next day, when I came back, I was told I had a choice to sweep the floor with Reine or pack my books and go home for good. I chose to go home with my books and that ended my schooling.


My dad had a sawmill right by the creek. My mother was a good cook and she and my sisters cooked for all the men that worked there. There were around eight of them. I remember when my dad bought the new John Deere tractor and Smokey got to drive it home from town. We all took turns driving it. The country was all bush then.


By the old house there were two old summer kitchens which Mother had shelves in and she used to put all her wild berries in bowls out there. This one time, we had all picked strawberries and she’d put sugar on them at night and the next day she would can them. Well, she asked all of us if we’d been in there eating them and we all said, “No.” Now, one night I came home from the mail and ran in the house to get a spoon and went to the old kitchen to get myself some sugared berries. While I was sitting on one side of the shelf eating, I could hear this smacking noise on the other side. I peeked and there was my dad with a spoon eating them, too. He looked at me and whispered, “Don’t tell your mother.”


My mother never ate deer or moose meat. She said it wasn’t good for you. I remember one time Mother saying she’d never eat it so Dad had Edith cook this meat. At the table, he asked Mother if she liked the meat and she said, “Oh, yes. It’s real good beef.” He got up and went into the living room and wrote on a paper. He then held it up behind her and it read, “Your mother is eating moose meat.”


After my schooling and working in the bush, I went down East and worked in the mines. Reine and I got married down east in Malartic, Quebec. Louis and Clara stood up for us. We were married at six in the morning and I had to go to work at four that afternoon.


I worked two years in the gold mines. I started out with a pick and shovel. Boy, jobs were so hard to get then because of there being thousands of unemployed men and it was at the outbreak of the war. The only way I got my job was a whole lot of men would go to the head frame where the old captain would come out right at lunchtime. Well, one day he came out and said, “We don’t hire Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays so go away. As a matter of fact, we’ll be laying off.” Well, I remember the next day was Friday the thirteenth. It was in 1940, just before Christmas. It was cold out but I was going back anyhow. I had been working in a store delivering groceries, doing the books, etc. The next day I went and I was the only one there. The old mine captain came out and saw me standing there. He said, “What the hell are you doing here? Weren’t you in that crowd yesterday?” I said, “Yes” and told him I wanted a job.


He said, “Do you speak French?” I said, “Yes and I read and write it, too.”


“Well,” he said, “come with me.” I did and I got the job, making 50¢ an hour. I found out there was a law then that they had to have 30% French speaking in the mine as the Quebecquois couldn’t speak English. The mine was owned by a Nova Scotian.


Back in Saskatchewan, I had registered for the army and they were always taking groups from the mine but I never got called. From the mine, where I worked for a couple of years, I moved to Flin Flon and stayed for a while. But I didn’t like my job so I moved back to Veillardville where I helped with harvesting and working at the mill. That’s when I got the quarter of land and the house. I tore it all apart and cut the roof down and moved it; it was originally further south than where it is now. The same year Thrussels, Martin Lessard, Gene Lessard, Rolland and I were all building so we formed a pool and poured our cement together. We’d do one place and then move on to the next. We lived in our garage and I divided it into two and moved everything in it. We lived like that with four kids in there. Uncle Joe L’Heureux came late in the year and said, “Oh, you’ll never get moved in before winter.”


Boy, it had the shingles on already and I said, “Oh yes, we will be” and we were because the garage wouldn’t have been warm enough. We had lots of help then, too, and all the lumber came from Dad’s mill and the insulation was shavings.


After that I worked for the C.N.R. for three or four years. I went to Flin Flon twice. I worked north of Churchill River for one winter building camps. I worked four years for MacMillan Bloedel.


In 1965, Reine and I moved with Lloyd, Donna and Kerry to Kamloops, B.C. Lloyd stayed in Golden, B.C. with Bruce as Louis, Clara and family were living there. That is where Lloyd got on at the sawmill.


We carried on and we’ve never looked back. I couldn’t get over the money to be made there. I could leave home, when I worked for myself, at five in the morning and get back at two in the afternoon with $100.00 in my pocket.


I went to work for three months on the Gang Ranch, north in the Cariboo country. They had 1200 head of cattle. The ranch was 80 miles long and 40 miles wide. I was repairing equipment there. We then were thinking about going to Keremeos, B.C., where there was a garage and coffee shop business for sale. Well, I went to the manpower office in Kamloops and then we went to Keremeos to see the garage, etc., and then back home. The next morning I got a call to go to the school board so I went and I liked it alot. The money was good and everyone was good to work with. Come fall I knew I'd be getting laid off but then I was told if I had steam papers I could get on in another area. Well, I had the papers so I then worked with the boilers. I went back to school and got my gas tickets and steam tickets and became a heat technician.


I am now retired and enjoy our life in B.C. I putter around in my shop doing a bit of woodwork for myself and others. I sometimes do a bit of furnace work. We have a motorhome now and travel some.


Gabrielle (Gay) , born on July 7, 1941 married Mervin Meyers on July 29, 1961 They have three children: Sandra, born December 24, 1961 married Mark Murray August 11, 1984 Darwin, born November 18, 1963 Shelly, born December 4, 1964


Lorne ,born January 4, 1944 married Veanna Le Blue January 4, 1966 They have two children: Corey, born July 26, 1971 Christopher, born December 25, 1973


Shirley Anne , born April 11, 1945 married Gerry Pelletier October 9, 1965 They have two children: Robin, born May 29, 1969 Leanne, born March 30, 1973


Lloyd , born August 25, 1947 married Sandra Oliver April 3, 1971 divorced They have two children: Brian, born January, 1972 Sharla, born February, 1974


Donna , born January 25, 1960 married Gerald Sawatzky July 25, 1981 They have one child: Taunia, born November 24, 1984


Gay, Lorne and Lloyd reside in Alberta; Shirley Anne in Saskatchewan; and Donna and Kerry in Kamloops, B.C.


(as told by grandsons, Smokey Alain and Hervé Nolin)


Moise L'Heureux was a short, handsome man with white hair and a big black moustache. He was firm with his children and most kind to his grandchildren, a good business man as well as one of the richest ranchers around. He was born in Quebec City, Quebec, in the year 1858. As a young man, he came West with a brother who later settled in Alberta. Moise was hired to work for the railroad in Crowsnest Pass. After several years he returned East and married his girlfriend, Sophie Pichette. After their marriage they lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where their two eldest children, Alma and Arthur, were born. Later they moved West to the mountains where Moise again worked for the railroad. On returning to Saskatchewan, the family settled on a homestead in the Jackfish Lake area which was about fifteen miles from Battleford on the Saskatchewan River. They lived in a log shack as did many other people in the area. While most homes had a floor of earth, their home had a wooden floor. The L'Heureux home was a well-known stopping place where all people who came that way -- including Indians -- were made welcome.


Moise was a hard worker who tried his hand at a variety of jobs -- Indian Agent, rancher, farmer and post master. At one time he worked on his ranch north of Battleford besides working in Highgate as well. At times he worked night and day.


Life was not easy for those wishing to purchase their supplies in Battleford as there was no bridge over the Saskatchewan River, so the men would tie the wagon box down to the wheels and let the horses swim across.


The ranch offered work to many men: sometimes during haying time there were as many as eight hired men working for them. Horses, cattle and sheep were kept in abundance. Smokey Alain, one of their grandchildren, recalls how he used to tease the sheep: "One day a few sheep chased me up on the tractor and three or four rams were trying to climb up with me. It just so happened that Granddad Moise came out of the house carrying two pails of feed for the pigs when he spotted me on the tractor. He got them in the rear with the pails and off they went, so I could come down. Granddad Moise turned to me and said, 'You little begger, you're the one who has been teasing the sheep!' The puzzle had been solved."


Sophie and Moise were blessed with fifteen children and looked after two granddaughters, Alma and Alice L'Heureux (Leonidas' children) following their mother's death. As time went on, more grandchildren arrived and they too spent their summer holidays on the ranch where they could enjoy their grandmother's cookies and ride horses, too.


Moise and Sophie had a big house, six bedrooms upstairs and a large kitchen which ran the length of the house. The table had benches on either side and could seat about twenty people. At that time, the girls remained home till they married, so one can imagine all the stories that were told at that large table. Most evenings were spent with the men playing cards while the women knit socks and mitts.


Sophie had a big spinning wheel and she spun the wool from their sheep into big balls which were later knit into necessary mitts and socks. She knit socks not only for her own family but also for the whole parish! She loved to bake and, with her large family, she needed to do so frequently. Her Christmas cake was usually five or six layers high and always iced. One year her sons, Toni, Pierre and Wilfrid lifted the whole cake up and cut out the middle of the bottom layer, leaving just the outside shell. When Sophie began to cut the cake, her knife went right through, much to her surprise. The boys were always doing something, like sneaking into the ice house to eat pies and cakes which were stored there. Of course, cream was kept there as well. In those days, cream was used sparingly for eating as it was kept mainly for making butter or for sale -- a means of earning much-needed money. It is a known fact that Sophie used to set mouse traps around the pies and cream to keep curious fingers out.


The large garden they had, meant a lot of work. It was looked on with pride and, when intruders came, they were quickly disposed of. Sophie killed many a porcupine who was feeding on her garden and then she proceeded to skin and prepare them for eating.


Moise was seventy-three years old when he died and Sophie was eighty-three. They are both buried in the cemetery in Jackfish. Sophie and Moise were highly respected residents of this part of Western Canada. They had shared both hardships and success with the same indomitable spirit which marks the true pioneers who have helped to make Canada's history and now have "Gone West."


My Dad, Bruno Alain, came from Quebec to Saskatchewan in 1905. He came out West by himself to join his two brothers, Henri and Alphonse. He first came to Goose Lake and worked as the cook's helper, cooking for the railroad gang when the railroad was going through to the West. His biggest problem was learning to speak English. From here he moved to Delmas where his brother, Henri, was. Bruno married and settled there. Battleford was not very far from Delmas and it was here he got his next job which was hauling water to residents of the town. He was still having problems with his English and trying to collect from clients was a problem.


In 1913 he came to Paradise Hill and bought a homestead, built a log house and a log barn on it. He farmed there for 40 years.


In 1916 he married Eva Prince. Those were the buggy days, the two back wheels a little bigger than the front wheels, so one night at a house party the boys went out and exchanged one front wheel with one back wheel. All the way home that night Dad kept saying to Mother, "The roads are sure rough tonight." He didn't notice till next day in the daylight when he took off again with the buggy what made the roads so rough.


Mother and Dad had six children, four girls and two boys, and lived on the farm till all were grown up. I (Alice) was the oldest, born in 1917; then twin girls Rachelle and Yvonne, born in 1920; another girl, Jeanne, in 1921; then two boys, George born in 1924 and Clement in 1927. With the family getting larger Dad built another log house made with square timber which was cozy and warm.


By then Dad had 3/4 of a section of land and was mixed farming, raising cattle, pigs and horses he needed for the farm. We also had chickens for the eggs and meat. He grew wheat, oats and barley. Every fall he would take wheat to town to get ground for flour and took back 10 to 12 100-pound bags of flour which would do us for the year. In those days women had to bake all their own bread. He also grew a lot of potatoes and Mother had a good garden. It was a lot of hard work, never much money around, but we always ate well off the land.


In their first years of farming they had to haul their wheat to Turtleford which was 35 miles away, a two-day trip with the horses and sleigh. Sometimes the roads were drifted over with snow so they had quite a hard trip with temperatures down to 40° below. Usually two farmers took off together so they could help one another. A few years later the railroad came closer, first to Cleeves 20 miles away, then to Paradise Hill 5 miles away. Elevators were built so they didn't have far to haul their wheat anymore. I can remember one year when Dad's crop was hailed out completely and no insurance. Another year Dad had a real good crop, the wheat was worth $1.00 a bushel and he threshed approximately 7,000 bushels. It took longer to get harvesting done that fall with snow and bad, wet weather. However, by the time it was ready to sell, the wheat went down to 20¢ a bushel and it cost 18¢ a bushel to get it threshed. So what a letdown! The poor farmers always worked hard and never knew what they would get for their work till the money was in their pockets.


We lived 4 miles from school and 9 miles from church. Dad had an old horse and a 2-wheel cart for us to drive to school. In winter we had a cutter, a team of horses, lots of blankets, hot stones at our feet and hot jars of cocoa, and away we'd go. I'm sure Mother and Dad must have had some worries when it got to 35° below and stormy, but we didn't mind and didn't want to miss school. We didn't go to church very often through the winter but we always attended in summer. When we went to communion we had to leave early to be in time for confession before Mass, no breakfast but we took a lunch along. It makes you wonder why people complain now.


A big project for the winter months was getting their firewood for the year. They cut down trees off their own property and hauled them into the yard until they had a big enough pile. In early spring one farmer who had a buzz saw and engine would travel around to cut the piles of wood for each farmer and all the neighbors would help one another.


It was just great when Dad got his car in 1929, an Overland -- mind you, we had some rough rides at first. Dad used to say "Whoa" like he did to the horses when we came to turn at our gate but the car went on. So he decided to turn around, so off the road and over a pile of rocks (which were piled along the side of the road), turned and came back over another pile of rocks. Us kids were all bouncing around on the back seat but we made it home all in one piece. After Dad got the car I can remember driving to Jack-


fish Lake, 60 miles away, to visit Dad's brother Alphonse. It was a great day for us all. Later, cousins took the train and came to Paradise Hill to spend a few weeks and we thought that was great.


In 1932 some of the family were in their teens and needed more room so Dad made an addition to the house which was made into a kitchen and a bedroom. We had a community dance in it before we moved in. No phones in those days but it didn't take long for the word to get around from one neighbor to the next and we had a houseful.


Mother and Dad always had their game of checkers before they went to bed. Us kids slept upstairs. Some nights we'd hear a noise, checkers knocked off the board and rolling all over the kitchen floor, and we'd say, "Guess Mother lost her game tonight." She would send the checkers flying when she lost.


It must have been 1939 when Dad came to B.C. to look for land but found it too expensive. In 1942 I came to B.C. and was married in North Vancouver. The Christmas of 1943, Dad came out to visit us enquiring about prices again. In 1944 he came back and bought a place on Vancouver Island, a big house near Parksville. There were a few fruit trees on this place, a little creek with a pump on it that supplied water for the house. Mother came out for awhile, enjoyed this place but decided no way to make a living so they sold again. Dad went to Port Alberni to work in the mill and rented there. Mother stayed for awhile but went back to the farm with the boys for that summer. The boys, not too interested in farming, decided to have an auction sale in the fall and all came to B.C.


By then Dad had come to the mainland and to my Uncle Alphonse in Port Moody. He enjoyed visiting with his brother. Later he bought a house on a lot in Port Moody. I can so well remember when my Mother and two brothers arrived by car. They were so happy to be off the farm and start a new life in B.C. Before this, my youngest sister had married and lived on a farm in Zehner, a little place near Regina. (She has been a widow for the past six years but still lives in the farm house but the farm is rented out.) My other two sisters (the twins) were working in New Westminster by then as they came to B.C. on their own in 1943.


Mother and Dad settled in Port Moody and were very happy. So much nice fresh fruit right on their lot! Mother cooked applesauce and they loved it so much; I think they ate it till it almost came out of their ears. Dad, George and Clem still at home all got jobs at the Flavelle Cedar Mill. Dad walked most of the time, being on a different shift from the boys at times; as I recall he never drove a car in B.C. (This is now some forty years later and my brother George is still working there as a watchman. He has never worked anywhere else.) I'm not sure of the year but around five years later Dad bought a big house in Maillardville but George and he still worked in the mill so they batched through the week and spent weekends at home. It was about this time they sold the farm in Saskatchewan.


At this point my sister Yvonne was married and, soon after, her twin sister Rachelle married. My two brothers were married in 1952. One brother lived in the Port Moody house and Clem had a suite upstairs in Mother and Dad's house. I must tell you an incident that Dad often laughed about. One night Clem and Dad went out to friends' for a card game, "little gambling, eh." They played on through the night and didn't come home till daybreak. Not to wake Mother up they put the ladder to an upstairs window and were sneaking in that way into my brother's suite. So, when they were halfway up the ladder, Mother opened the back door and says to Dad, "Why not come in this way? It's much easier." Dad started to laugh so hard, the ladder just shook. Clem was afraid he was going to fall.


Mother also loved her cards. There were four couples who used to get together and play Penny Ante. One Saturday they were playing in one's basement. They'd stopped for a coffee break and lunch, and back to playing cards. Next time they went upstairs it was bright daylight. They had played all night. They all had breakfast, then went home on the bus. They had just gotten home when my brother drove up at 10 A.M. He came in and said, "You must be just home from early Mass this morning." My Dad had such a hearty laugh and both laughed when they told my brother they had not gone to bed yet. They did not miss Mass very often but I'm sure they did that morning.


Dad always enjoyed good health till he had his first heart attack in 1953. He recovered from it fairly well but had to take it easy. They sold the big house in Maillardville and bought a smaller one in New Westminster. They didn't live there very long till he had a good offer, so sold it. He always did pretty well with his buying and selling. They bought another cozy little place in New Westminster. They were both so happy there and enjoyed every minute of it, close to shopping and the bus. In 1959 he was again hospitalized with the heart problem. We all had a good Christmas together. In January we could see he was not well. He had his fatal heart attack at home January 22, 1960 at the age of 75. My Mother is still enjoying life at the age of 94. Dad is remembered as a good husband, a good and kindly father, a faithful employee and a good friend to all who knew him.


NOTE: b. denotes date of baptism, not date of birth, m. denotes marriage, d. denotes death.


1. Allain, Simon b. 1643 to André Allain & Catherine Marc of St. Sauveur, Rouen, Normandie, France. Maufait, Jeanne m. April 15, 1670, Québec.


Children: Pierre b. December 26, 1674; m. Anne Racine February 22, 1713 Noel Simon b. February 23, 1678 Nicholas b. December 4, 1682 Catherine b.; m. Joseph Poitras October 19, 1705 Jeanne b. 1679


2. Alain, Noel Simon b. February 23, 1678 Hamel, Marie Anne m. January 19, 1706, Lorette, Québec.


Children: Noel b. November 6, 1706 Marie Anne b. March 20, 1708; d. September 11, 1708 Marie Anne b. September 19, 1709; d. February 17, 1726 Marie Joseph b. 1711 (boy); married three times Jean b. October 27, 1712 René b. July 29, 1714; d. October 10, 1714 Charles b. 1715; m. Marie Joseph Gagné 1746 Pierre Simon b. April 14, 1717 Francois Marie b. 1719; m. Françoise Petitclerc November 27, 1741 Marie Catherine b. 1721; m. Charles Dion February 22, 1740 Marie Geneviève b. 1722; married twice Marie b. 1724 François m. Madeleine Roy Marie Louise b. 1725; m. André Liénard 1744


3. Alain, Pierre Simon b. April 14, 1717 d. Mansault(seau), Geneviève m. January 11, 1740, Ancienne-Lorette, Québec


Children: Marie-Geneviève b. October 23, 1740; m. Pierre Lavignon January 31, 1763 Pierre b. March 29, 1742 Marguerite b. April 11, 1744; married twice Jean Marie b. March 25, 1748 Marie Louise b. March 30, 1750; d. April 7, 1750 Ignace b. October 27, 1751; d. January 8, 1788 François b. April 2, 1754 Joseph Marie b. March 5, 1757; d. January 10, 1759 Joseph b. April 23, 1761


4. Alain, Ignace b. October 27, 1751, Lorette, Québec; d. January 8, 1788 Moisan, Angèle m. September 2, 1783, Ancienne-Lorette, Québec


Children: Ignace (This list is incomplete)


5. Alain, Ignace b. d. Demers, Geneviève m. November 25, 1817, Notre Dame de Québec


Children: Jacques b. November 28, 1820 d. (This list is imcomplete)


6. Alain, Jacques b. November 28, 1820; d. Leclerc, Angèle m. February 7, 1842, Notre Dame de Québec


Children: Angèle b. November 8, 1842; m. Ferdinand Lirette, St. Raymond Jacques b. October 23, 1843; m. (1) Adeline Morasse m. (2) Heraclise Folley Louise b. December 8, 1844 Henri b. March 22, 1846; d. January 4, 1890 at St. Ubald m. Arthemize Folley, July 27, 1875, at St. Casimir Georgiana b. September 3, 1847 Pierre b. Edouard b.; d. December 26, 1923, St. Ubald m. Exilda Carpentier of St. Augustin July 24, 1878 Marie m. Xavier Moisan July 7, 1874, St. Raymond


Adelard b. June 9, 1856; m. Mary Trudel June 27, 1881, St. Raymond


Joseph b. d. May 31, 1932 (70 yrs. & 11 mos.) m. Delina Cantin April 14, 1885, St. Raymond


Ferdinand b. d. May 12, 1914 (54 yrs. & 6 mos.), St. Ubald m. Louise Langevin January 23, 1893, St. Raymond


Cecile b. d. February 13, 1939 (77 yrs. & 7 mos.) St. Raymond m. Gaudiose Dion February 16, 1885, St. Raymond


Louis b. December 1, 1863; d. July 4, 1941 (78 yrs. & 6 mos.), St. Raymond m. Sophie Plamondon April 17, 1888, St. Raymond


7. Alain, Henri b. March 22, 1846; d. January 4, 1890 (43 years), St. Ubald Folley, Arthemize m. July 27, 1875, St. Casimir


Marie Virginie b. April 24, 1876, St. Ubald


Marie Césarie Angelina b. September 23, 1877, St. Ubald


Joseph Henri Alphonse b. June 1, 1879, St. Ubald


Joseph Henri Delphice b. January 26, 1882, St. Ubald


Joseph Edouard Alfred b. November 12, 1883, St. Ubald


Joseph Gedéon Bruno b. June 20, 1885, St. Ubald


Marie Odelie Rose Alma b. June 15, 1887, St. Ubald


Joseph Edouard Napoléon b. February 6, 1889, St. Ubald


[Editor's Note: Names have been taken from the Tanguay Dictionary and the personal records of Cecile Gingras.]


** Please note: b. denotes date of birth from this generation on. **


8. Alain, Henri Delphice b. January 25, 1882; d. December 19, 1967, Melfort, Saskatchewan L'Heureux, Alma m. April 8, 1907, Jackfish, Saskatchewan d. December 15, 1982


Moise (Smokey) b. January 28, 1908, Delmas, Saskatchewan m. Verna Cockwill October 20, 1933, Flin Flon, Manitoba


Children: Dawn b. January 25, 1936 Lynn b. June 3, 1944


Louis Alfred b. March 6, 1909, Ruddell, Saskatchewan m. Clara Edith Lessard 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


Yvonne Medirise b. March 9, 1911, Delmas, Saskatchewan m. Raymond Turcotte March 4, 1930; d. 1944


Children: Joan d. 2½ months old Neil d. at 8 years old Darlene d. at birth Bruce d. at 4 years old


m. Harry Wyman June 1, 1951; d. August 14, 1975


m. Pat O'Brien December 16, 1977; d. June 4, 1983


Rolland Joseph b. October 27, 1913; d. November 13, 1986, Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan m. Yvonne Veillard April 29, 1943, Veillardville, Saskatchewan


Children: Simone b. May 5, 1944 Maurice b. October 28, 1951 Roger b. April 8, 1953 Denis b. April 16, 1955


Rosanne b. April 23, 1957 Jeannine b. July 28, 1958 Lisa b. May 13, 1963


Marie Paule Jeanne b. October 27, 1915, North Battleford, Saskatchewan m. Angus Menzies January 7, 1933; d. March 12, 1983


Children: Ronald b. January 24, 1933 Darlene b. January 7, 1937 Neil b. July 31, 1942 Bob b. July 1, 1946 Keith b. July 11, 1950 Joanne b. September 23, 1955 Brenda b. July 31, 1957


Edithe Marie b. December 21, 1917, Battleford, Saskatchewan m. Gene Lessard October 25, 1945


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


Berthe Marie b. March 20, 1919 m. Paul Marsollier December 8, 1937, Flin Flon, Manitoba


Children: Norbert b. July 3, 1939 Roger b. February 24, 1941 Allen b. September 6, 1948 Cathy b. March 16, 1955


Paul Emile b. October 6, 1920, North Battleford, Saskatchewan m. Reine Cartier February 15, 1941, Malartic, Quebec


Children: Gabrielle b. July 7, 1941 Lorne b. January 4, 1944 Shirley Anne b. April 11, 1945 Lloyd b. August 25, 1947 Donna b. January 25, 1960 Kerry b. August 7, 1962


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


1. Daniel Folley b. 1823 (son of David Folley and Anne Noonan, probably from Ireland) & Célina Leboeuf, m. October 20, 1846, Ste. Anne de la Pérade.


Their children: Heraclise Stephanie Arthemize Philias Cezarice Bruno Henry Virginie Herman


2. Arthemize Folley & Henri Alain, m. July 27, 1875, St. Casimir.


Their children: Marie Virginie b. April 24, 1876, St. Ubald Marie Césarie Angelina b. September 23, 1877, St. Ubald Joseph Henri Alphonse b. June 1, 1879, St. Ubald Joseph Henri Delphice b. January 26, 1882, St. Ubald Joseph Edouard Alfred b. November 12, 1883, St. Ubald Joseph Gedéon Bruno b. June 20, 1885, St. Ubald Marie Odélie Rose Alma b. June 15, 1887, St. Ubald Joseph Edouard Napoléon b. February 6, 1889, St. Ubald


Following Henri's death on January 4, 1890, at the age of 43 years, his widow remarried:


(a) Nazaire Fugére, September 26, 1892, at St. Casimir. Deceased. (b) Alfred Denis, August 13, 1904, at St. Ubald.


The surname Folley is derived from O'Foghladha, the name of a sept which originated in Co. Waterford. Foley now ranks among the hundred commonest surnames in Ireland but its distribution is very noticeably heaviest in Munster. Sept is a clan or branch of a family. O' means a descendant of. This information was obtained from Irish Family Names, Arms, Origins, and Locations by Brian de Breffny, p. 103.


Yonder he stands on the hilltop, Watching out over the plain, Seeing somehow in that sunset The trails of the bison again, Crossing and crossing the grassland To disappear in the haze That hangs like a dusky curtain, On the stage of the early days. Feeling the exultation That coursed in his veins of old As the first hard sod of the prairies From the point of his ploughshare rolled, He knows as he stands there watching, That the trials of yesteryear Were really the greatest triumphs In the life of the pioneer. Yonder he stands in the sunset But he knows as he walks alone That the trails of the prairie bison Have blazed the way of his own, For the ruts that his homestead wagon Once cut in the open plain Have been swallowed up by the furrow... And will never be seen again. He knows that the mark of his coming Will fade as the years go by With no more trace than this sunset Will leave in the western sky, And his dreams of his teams and his binders And the stookrows earned by his sweat Will disappear in the twilight And soon we will all forget. Will there be others like him Who will follow up on the quest, With the power to witch the wheatlands That lie in the far northwest? Will there be men so willing To step from the trodden ways To open the land as he did... Back in the early days? Will the thrill of the old adventure just die, As the prairie wool, Leaving a listless legion With a cup that is overfull...? Oh, how we are going to miss him When we come to that day at last, When no longer we'll sit and listen To his memories of the past! For he lived through a grand adventure That we'll few of us know again... And his life has been carved by that ploughshare On the face of the western plain, And although the name may be missing, To those who can read the line,


It's a story of strength and of striving It is a tale that is true and fine, For it tells of the wide horizon Of the distances vast and blue... It tells of the old homesteader, And the job that he had to do, It tells of his trials and triumph And now as the end appears, Yonder he stands in the sunset... The last of the pioneers!


essart - land cleared by burning the small bushes terre défrichée par essartage - if a more exact translation is desired.


Lessard - a locality in Calvados (Normandy, France)


The following has been taken from The Meaning of Your Name written by Mary Rattray, a leaflet enclosed with the Coat of Arms Report on Lessard, obtained from Medieval Coat of Arms (Saskatoon) with Head Office in Vancouver, B.C.:


Surnames, generally, can be divided into four categories:


Place Names which would denote the location from which a person’s name came as in the second definition listed above.


Occupational Names which pertain to office, rank or trade.


Descriptive Names which describe physical characteristics, or relationships, such as condition in life appearance, dress and colouring.


Kinship Names which are derived from the name of the name of the father. The patronymical surname is common in many forms to all countries, thus in England the son of John became Johnson.


All things are engaged in writing their history. The planet, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain; the river, its channel in the soil; the animal, its bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their modest epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture in the sand or the stone. Not a footstep into the snow, or along the ground, but prints, in characters more or less lasting, a map of its march.


The Coat of Arms was completed by a heraldic artist, from information that was researched in:


Riestaps Armorial General - Normandy, France.


The Coat of Arms (shield) is described heraldically as:


The crest is the small decoration which appears above the shield and helmet:


Family mottoes may refer to family exploits or past family history, others refer to the shield, crest or badge device and others are a play upon the name of the holders, started in the distant past as battle cries. The motto for this name is:


Names for individuals originated as a way of identification and they usually fall into four categories (see supplement sheet). Dictionaries of surnames indicates surnames may have different spellings from the original.


The individual meanings for some names are obscure, but for others it is self explanatory and understandable.


Medieval Coats of Arms (Saskatoon) Market Mall S7J 2G2


My task for this book was to research the Lessard side of the family. I did not know where to begin so I wrote to the parish priest of St. Alexis des Monts, Quebec, looking for Grandpa’s birth and/or marriage certificate. After several letters back and forth, and after deciphering which Joseph Lessard he was, I finally obtained his baptismal certificate along with his parents’ marriage certificate. They were married in 1882. I was then notified that the parish registers only went back to 1872, ten years previous to his parents’ marriage. Having hit that much, I wrote to the Public Archives of Canada in Quebec. They were of no help to me. Then, on a hunch, I wrote to Ste. Anne de Beaupre asking if it was true that the land had been donated by a Lessard. My mother always said it was. To my utmost surprise, I received a friendly and encouraging letter in response from a Father Gérard Lebel who said, and I’ll translate, “There is only one Lessard ancestor as far as I’m concerned. You are related to this ancestor, Etienne de Lessart. But we will have to prove it.” He then asked me to send him all the information I could give him on my grandparents, etc. and so on up the ladder. It took from the 18th of February, 1983, till January 29, 1984, to fill in the rest. Later, Father Lebel wrote to me and said, “After two hours of perspiring over the papers I can give you a complete answer.” Lo and behold — he had all the ten generations completed from my parents up. You can imagine my joy at his discovery!


Fortunately, there is a fair amount written about this first ancestor, Etienne de Lessart. I will try to add a bit to what is written in the book, Our French-Canadian Ancestors, by Thomas J. Laforest.


We know that Etienne de Lessart, ancestor of the Lessard family, was born in 1623 in Normandy (see map). The only thing we know of his origin is the name of his parents, Jacques and Marie Herson, and the name of the village where he grew up, Chambois.


Although there is no record to prove it, it is believed that Etienne de Lessart came to New France around 1645. On the third of June, 1646, he was present at a baptism where he was the godfather. The following year, 1647, he was the messenger of very good news. It was he who announced “the help promised by France” was on its way. The event was announced in these words, “This same day (June 21), Mr. de Lessart returning from Tadoussac brought the first news from France which had been received from Captain Le Fèvre who had arrived at l’Ile Percée ... that five ships were preparing to come; that peace had been made in France.”


The land that Olivier LeTardif gave Etienne was one of the nicest pieces of land (see map D-4). Seduced by the life in New France, Etienne chose that piece of world for his children to be born on. The young girl he loved was born in Paris around 1634. She was 18 years old and already had behind her about 17 years of life in New France. Charles Sevestre and Marie Pichon arrived in New France with three children from Marie Pichon’s first marriage to Philippe Gauthier de Comporté and two daughters of their own. Charles Sevestre was a man estimated to be “well-off.” His descendants were perpetuated to the present day by his daughters.


One account mentions that 12, not 11, children were born of this union (Etienne and Marguerite) of which 8 later married.