YEAR 2004 ANNÉE
Subject: The great tourtière debate! : Your wonderful on-line magazine is being read in El Paso, Texas, by people of French-Canadian heritage. We carry on traditions from the Philippon-Levesque and Dubrule-Gravel families, and that includes tourtières at holiday time. Juliana L'Heureux talked about those French-Canadians who settled in the Michigan area, as compared to those who stayed in the New England area. I can only speak for our respective families who settled in northern Vermont and Maine, even while some relatives remain in Quebec. And here is where the tourtière comes in...2. Je me souviens (in English) and/et Je me souviens (en français)
I was born on Sunday, September 10, 1905. My father was Eugene Levesque; my mother was Felixcine Daillaire. My childhood was rather somber because there always seemed to be deaths in the home: my grandfather, whom I remember well even though I was only three. ...Je suis née un dimanche, le 10 septembre, 1905. Mon père Eugene Levesque; ma mère Felixcine Daillaire. Mon adolessance a été plutôt sombre car il y avait toujours des morts dans la maison: un grand-père que je me rappelle bien malgré que j’avais trois ans...
As with most families of French-Canadian descent, the Catholic church was the center of our lives. Our activities revolved around the liturgical seasons, with all the rites and services. Our fathers belonged to the Knights of Columbus or St. Jean Baptist Society, our mothers joined the Altar Society or Ladies of St. Anne, the girls sang in the choir and assisted with Catechism classes, and the boys were altar servers. In our family, the rosary was especially important: my mother directed the prayers after dinner, and she often fingered her rosary in odd moments saying “I’m praying for all my people.” ...It has been a pleasure to read about the results that some of the readers of this publication have had in researching their roots. It would seem that the older we get, the more important it is to leave a history of lineage to our children and grandchildren. If I have one bit of advice to those who wish to engage in this fascinating effort, it is this: please, above all, write everything down. Even if you have no interest in tracing your family right now, chances are that someone, a generation or two down the line, will be asking questions that you could answer...YEAR 2005 ANNÉE
Years ago, the magazine “Reader’s Digest” had articles entitled “My Most Unforgettable Character.” Every month featured a different person whose story was told by a friend or family member. The magazine no longer carries these selections in their modern issues, and that is a shame for I would have submitted my own article. Instead, I would like to share this with you, for these things shouldn’t be forgotten...When my grandparents emigrated from La Beauce in Quebec to Berkshire, Vermont, they settled on a farm with six of their 10 children. One was left behind, buried near Megantic, and three were already married. The new place seemed to have been made for a large family, and the land was fertile and relatively flat. It was blessed with a natural cold spring, a stand of maple trees, and a view of soft mountains. In my mother’s later years, we took a ride to visit the old homestead, and Mama was awestruck at how pretty the surrounding area was. She remembered working from dark of morning to dark of night and had never noticed the view...In September of 1965 my husband, Moe, was deployed to Germany with only a week’s advance notice. We managed to sell our house in El Paso, Texas, and we drove the 2800 miles to Richford, Vermont where my parents awaited us. Because we didn’t have concurrent travel, Moe left for Europe alone. I stayed behind with four year old Michelle and two year old Monique to await our travel orders known as “portcall.” ...8. Life On The Farm --- German Style
When my husband, Moe, met us in Frankfurt February 1, 1966, we were excited to begin our first European tour of duty. What surprises awaited us! We were on the waiting list for quarters on the Bitburg Air Force Base, but in the meantime Moe had found us an apartment in the little town of Balsfeld, just below the radar site where he was maintenance crew chief. We found ourselves in rolling farm land in the Eifel Mountains just a stone’s throw from Luxembourg...9. Our Mother's Hands et en français Les Mains de Maman
OUR MOTHER'S HANDS (a drawing of hands)
changed diapers, wiped away
tears, soothed feverish brows,
patted round bottoms, and held
smaller hands against fears. They
drew water from the spring, ...LES MAINS DE MAMAN
ont changé les couches, essuyé les
larmes, apaisé les fronts fébriles, tapoté
les petits derrières, et tenu nos plus petites
mains. Elles ont tiré l'eau de la source...10. The Catholic Faith comes to the Mexican Border
Those of us who were born in the Northeastern part of the US or in Canada tend to believe that our ancestors brought the Catholic faith to North America. Movies have been made about the Jesuits in their black robes trying to convert the tribes of Iroquois or Algonquins. Truly, they were early missionaries in the New World, but they were not the first, nor the only ones. In 1598, Don Juan de Onate made his way north from Mexico with a caravan of pilgrims. The line of march stretched some four miles and included about 700 men, 130 of whom were with their wives and children, 83 wagons of all sorts, and about 7000 head of livestock of various kinds. ...The very word Catholic means ‘universal’, and our Baltimore Catechism books reminded us that our religion was constant wherever we were. When the Masses began to be said in the vernacular of each region, the rites were still what we knew….only the language was different. Ah, but there are exceptions. In 1956, we were a young military couple assigned to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas. When we arrived, short of cash and without a car, we walked to the nearest church for Sunday Mass and entered a new religious experience in a Hispanic setting...12. OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE - Patroness of the Americas
Long before Pope John Paul II graced Our Lady of Guadalupe with a new title, the people of Mexico held a great devotion to her. The story begins in 1531 when a humble Indian named Juan Diego was making his way to Mexico City. As he approached a hill called Tepayacac, he heard singing and then a voice that called him by name. He was startled to see a Lady of great grandeur with garments shining like jewels...13. GROWING UP INNOCENT - Life in a small border town
Recently we received an e-mail that contained a list of events, people, and goods from the past. We were told that if we remembered them all, we were truly ancient. We did recall them all, and how grand it was! Our little town of Richford, Vermont is right on the Canadian border, down the hill from Abercorn, Quebec. The town, at its height, had maybe 2200 souls, and it was a fine place to be young. There is a tree-lined Main street that is bisected by the Mississquoi River...For years I called from Texas to Vermont to talk with my mother. We’d spend a half hour every Saturday chatting in French to bring each other up to date. When Mama died in 1992, I was lost on Saturdays so I began to call her sole surviving sibling, Aunt Pauline in Alma, Quebec. She had lost her only daughter, so we filled a need in each other’s lives. Then last year Aunt Pauline passed away suddenly at age 91, and I was at loose ends again for a French visit on Saturdays...15. SATURDAYS WITH ANTOINETTE Part II - Benoit's Story
During our Saturday conversations, it has become clear that Antoinette is a repository for family history, with a facile mind and memory for details and dates. In talking about her husband, his story became as vivid as her own as she related the facts which I am honored to set down in her words. Benoit Lafreniere was born December 17, 1915 in St. Wenceslas, Quebec, the last of seven children born to a farmer and his wife...16. THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
Unlike Jacob Marley, my ghosts of Christmas past are not at all frightening. The older I get, the dearer the memories become. When I was very young, the holiday was not just about gifts. To begin with, we never had much money and the gifts were often handmade: socks, hats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, and once a crazyquilt patchwork bathrobe lovingly embroidered with a variety of stitches...YEAR 2006 ANNÉE
17. Confessions Of A Former Enfant Terrible
It’s a wonder my mother kept me. I wrote about the time my sister accidentally dumped me in the gutter behind the cows, and how my mother debated whether it was easier to clean me up or simply have another baby. Over the next few years, I gave my mother lots of reasons to doubt her choice...18. Grande Dame Of Lac St. Jean
This Pauline was my dear aunt, the youngest of Mama’s siblings. Grandmother Felixcine had twelve children but only five survived to adulthood.19. Mama Says
There are universal truths that cross all ethnic and language barriers. Our mothers were the source of wisdom that had been passed down through the ages; and somehow we find some of those bits coming out of our mouths, directed at our children and grandchildren...It seems as though some institutions persisted longer in our little corner of Vermont. Thanks to that, a penny was actually worth something when I was a child. We actually had penny candy. Our little neighborhood grocery store had a glass-fronted case that bore countless nose and hand prints left by the youngsters who pondered their choices...21. PATIENT PATIENTS (And other life stories)
This article could have been called “Profiles in Courage” but JFK used that. “Courage Under Fire” would have been fitting but that went for a movie. It doesn’t really matter.Those of us who are of a certain age remember spending Saturday afternoons in a darkened theater with all our friends. Before the advent of TV and the video games that occupy today’s youngsters, we played outside and invented amusements. If the weather was bad, we had board games or books to pass the hours inside. But good weather or bad, Saturday afternoons meant a double feature that started at 1 PM...23. Philco Magic
“Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows.” These words were enough to give you the shivers because you knew you were in for a scary story.
Before big screen TVs and home entertainment centers, there was radio and it was the source of news, drama, music, and comedy. The only thing required was your imagination...I confess to being inspired by Norm’s proposed changes to the Catholic Church, as well as the responses from his readers. We’ve already established that I’m ‘way over the hill and speeding down the slippery back side, and from this point in life I’ve already seen a number of changes over the years.
While I was growing up, we were still in the pre-Vatican Council era, and that meant that business was conducted in Latin...25. FROM MAMA’S KITCHEN WITH LOVE
My family tells me that I am obsessed with food. I dream about food, and in my dreams I’m always faced with feeding a large group unexpectedly and I spend my time trying to combine what I have so I can prepare a decent meal. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this is so, for I can’t remember ever going hungry. Our meals might not have been epicurean while I was growing up, but Mama outdid herself in the kitchen even when money was tight. She set a good table…and a good example...26. THE WORLD IN BLACK AND WHITE
The first time I ever saw a working TV was in 1949. Our family was on vacation in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, and we stopped at a small grill for a bite of lunch. There was a small television set close to the ceiling in a corner of the darkened room, and the image was grainy and flickering...27. REFLECTIONS ON A SPANISH MASS
I’ve written a couple of times about the fact that the Catholic Church is universal, and that a Mass is pretty much the same all over the world. We’ve attended Mass where the liturgy was in English, French, German, or Spanish, and only the externals were different...Quite recently, we were making one of our all-too-frequent trips to the infusion clinic, and as it often happens, we were listening to a CD of Big Band music. We stopped for a light at a major intersection, and suddenly we were aware that we were being watched by the people in the car on our right, as well as the folks in the two cars on our left. Why? ...In anticipation of the upcoming holiday season, the latest Toys R Us catalog is bigger than the phone book for Richford, Vermont. The selections boggle the mind, and I’m left to wonder about what we played with (or at). For sure, we didn’t have much in the way of store-bought items, but I honestly don’t remember ever saying “I’m bored” or “There’s nothing to do.” ...YEAR 2007 ANNÉE
30. A STITCH IN TIME
A Singer treadle sewing machine sits in our den, a testament to the women who came before me. The date on the throat plate reads 1867, indicating that the machine belonged to Mémère Philippon before Mama made it her own. Over the years, Mama bought two or three portable sewing machines and just as quickly gave them away, always going back to her old reliable Singer. She said that it was like a haltered and harnessed horse waiting at the door, always ready to go.These days, in the late autumn of our years, we live in Texas, far removed from the Vermont of our youth. The thought of ‘home’ tugs at the heart, and because of that we subscribe to “Vermont Life”. The pictures are of familiar scenes and the articles remind us of what special people those stalwart Vermonters were…and still are...32. Cat Tales
When you have a young, energetic kitten in the house in December, two words strike terror in your heart: ‘Christmas tree.’ We’ve just come through the holidays with TWO kittens, and you can imagine what an adventure this was. Our tree was climbed several times, many packages were explored, and every decoration was examined with great interest. Some of my best Christmas treasures remained packed away this year, just to be on the safe side.Here we sit, in early March, and the weather guy on TV tells us that it will be 80 degrees over the weekend. Even for this part of far west Texas, that’s awfully early. What happened to the season that comes between winter and summer? ...34. When Fashion Was More Than A Passing Fancy
Mama was somewhat of a packrat. Luckily for us, she saved many things that give us a glimpse of what life was like many decades ago. Among those items is a little red packet of tintypes, some dating back to the 1860s. Long-gone family members, as well as some folks that are totally unknown to me, are frozen in time, presenting a record of what people were wearing...
And another for our golfers Old GolfersFour very old retired Navy geezers came into the Army-Navy Club pro shop in Arlington, Virginia after playing 18 holes of golf...That was Mama’s favorite way of describing the hardiness and courage of our ancestors. She would remind us that they faced life’s troubles and hardships head-on, never complaining or giving up in the face of desperate times...36. And God Laughed
One of our chaplains once started his sermon by asking the question “How do you make God laugh?” The answer: “Tell him your plans.” The topic of the homily was the eternal truth that no matter how organized we are, God finds a way to remind us that He is in charge, and we must be humble enough to recognize this. It’s a lesson that I’ve been taught again and again, for I seem to have a short memory when it comes to that fact. Recently I heard an interesting story that seems to prove the chaplain’s point, and I’d like to share it with you...The newspapers last week carried an item about a lake in Chile that just flat disappeared. You can make all the jokes you want about how it happened, but the fact is that there was a lake one day and the next day there wasn’t...38. Comment on Richard Payne's article on languages
For the record, I am bilingual (French and English), and I have my father to thank for the fact that I kept the French of my childhood after learning English once I started school. Papa was fond of saying that a person who spoke two languages was worth two people. Besides, he maintained that French was the most beautiful language to pray God and make love in. Case in point: the English say "I love you," and that's nice. The Germans say "Ich liebe dich" and manage to spit in your ear. The French, now, say softly "Je t'aime" and who can resist?...39. STARTING OVER
Recently we introduced our granddaughter to the classic film “Fiddler on the Roof.” In the final scenes, the Jewish residents of a tiny Russian village were evicted, given just three days to gather their belongings and leave for good. This time I was focused on what the people chose to take with them:...For more years than I care to count, my morning prayer has been “Thank you, God, for another day and for the love of my life to share it with.” I haven’t quite figured out what to say now, beyond the first part, for the love of my life departed on August 21. The published obituary reads in part: “He will be remembered for his total honesty, his generous heart, his cheerful whistle, his love of Big Band music, and his wicked sense of humor.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg...41. PARDON ME….YOUR ROOTS ARE SHOWING
Those of us who are of French-Canadian ancestry will find it hard to disguise that fact. It is almost as obvious as a bad toupee or a slip that shows...“Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus taught us to say. Bread is mentioned more than once in the Bible. There is reference to women who measure flour and oil to make bread. There is the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, and Jesus used bread at the Last Supper to symbolize His own body. He calls himself ‘the bread of life.’43. HOW SANTA CLAUS CAME TO BE
This story originally came from Grant Kimbell, a kindly gentleman who worked as desk clerk of the YMCA where I was employed as a secretary over fifty years ago. He had been an up-and-rising opera star until a sudden illness took his magnificent voice and left him with a gravelly throat. He told this story at every Christmas party, and he presented it with a great deal of passion and animation. I've never forgotten it, or him.
