Onesime Gagnon (1892)

Onesime Gagnon
Nationality:	American
Born:	March 26, 1892 Soldier Pond, Maine
Died:	January 8, 1968 Livermore Falls, Maine
Father:	Alexandre Gagnon
Mother:	Sophia Labbé
Spouse:	Rosa Yvonne Michaud
Married:	June 26, 1916 St. Remi RC Church Keegan, Maine
Children:	Onesime Wilfred (Bill) Gagnon Cecile Rosa Gagnon Blanche Alice Gagnon Yvonne Jeanette Gagnon Albert Adelard Gagnon Rita Lumina Gagnon Norman Raymond Gagnon Robert Ronald Gagnon
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Residence:	Soldier Pond, Maine Livermore Falls, Maine
Profession:	Paper mill worker

Onesime and Rosa

Rosa and Onesime met in April, 1916, when Onesime was 24. He worked at Brown Lumber Mill as a shingle buncher. At the time, mill work was seasonal. In the fall and winter the river would freeze, stopping all log traffic on the river. The mill would shut down until the spring when the ice would melt and release all the logs. But the spring drive of logs was a busy time.

A few months after meeting, on June 26, 1916, they were married at St. Remi church in Keegan, Maine, by Father St. Martin. They made their home in Keegan, but in the fall of 1916 when the mill shut down, Rosa and Onesime went to Wallagrass for the winter.

Onesime and Rosa on their wedding day on June 26, 1916.

Rosa’s parents, who had moved to the northern part of Maine in 1914, never liked “up country”, so they had decided to return to Chisholm. Her father was soon able to get a job in the paper mill in town. In February 1917, Rosa’s father spoke to the foreman of the finishing room about the possibility of a job for Onesime. Fortunately, the mill was hiring, and the foreman said yes, tell him to come, he has a job. Onesime and Rosa planned to have a large family, and discussed names for their children. Now it was the custom of the day, especially in Catholic French families, to name children after the Holy Family - i.e. every male child after Joseph, and every female child after Mary (Marie in French), who were Jesus's parents on earth. Onesime and Rosa followed this custom for their family, often without their children's knowledge. (For instance, Albert did not learn that his real first name was Joseph until he enlisted in the military). Rosa was lucky enough to become pregnant about a month after their wedding.

A photo of the Gagnon siblings around 1922. Onesime holding Cecile, Bill, Rosa holding Blanche, Albert seated as a baby.

On April 6, 1917, war was declared war with Germany. Because he was already married with a pregnant wife, Onesime was lucky that he was not called up for war. Two days later, Rosa delivered their first baby, a son they named Joseph Onesime Wilfred, whom they called Wilfred or Bill. The following year Marie Rose Cecile "Cecile" was born on May 6, 1918. Alice "Blanche" on July 7, 1919, Marie Yvonne Jeannette "Jeannette" on April 5, 1921 (who died 25 days later), Joseph Albert Adelard "Albert" on August 3, 1922, and Marie Rita Lumina "Rita" on May 30, 1924.

A photo of the Gagnon siblings around 1926. In this photo, you can see the various children's personalities beginning to emerge.

In the summer of 1926, Rosa and Onesime bought a house down on Shuy Flat. This allowed them to be near Rosa’s parents. Rosa’a father was sick in bed with cancer, and her mother needed assistance caring for him. At the time, the children in the family were: Bill, 9, Cecile, 8, Blanche, 7, Albert, 4, and Rita, 2.

1927 - Multiple Tragedies Strike the Young Family

On January 26, 1927 at 5:30 in the morning, their house burned down. Onesime was able to wake all the children, and get them out. He threw 5 year-old Albert down the stairs in the excitement, and grabbed Rita, who was 3, by her arm. He ran down the stairs as they were collapsing, falling to the floor at the last several steps. The outside temperature was 40 degrees below zero. Onesime, Rita and Albert suffered from frostbite. Onesime on his ears, Albert and Rita had developed frostbite on their feet. The family lost everything in the house, and were left homeless with five children. Luckily, there was a little insurance, so in a week they were able to move to a place in Chisholm and start housekeeping again. Now Chisholm was not an incorporated town on its own, it was a census designated place (CDP) in the Town of Jay, Maine.

On February 12, 1927, Rosa’s father died at the age of 58 years, still a young man. Sometime later, Rosa’s mother married Pierre Bolduc, who had sold them the house in town. Then on April 8, 1927, Onesime’s only sister Odelie died at the age of 32 years, less than two years after her husband passed away. By then, she had been crippled and living in a wheel chair seven years. When Odelie died, Onesime’s parents, who had gone to live with her to help, came back and lived in Chisholm.

Sometime in 1927, 5 year-old Albert was out playing when he was run over by a truck. He was injured and lay in bed for several days, having difficulty regaining consciousness. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, he was eventually able to fully recover.

Not long after, Onesime’s mother became ill with cancer of the liver. At one point, it was thought that she had died. The custom at the time was to lay out the body of a family member in the house, where friends and other family members would visit, pray and grieve. Common people could not afford to have a funeral home provide services, and this meant that bodies were often not embalmed. Albert remembered the time his grandmother was laid out in the house, and the wake being in progress. His grandmother, however, was not dead, but only in a coma. She abruptly sat up and wanted to know why everyone was there. The children ran from the house, thinking they had seen a ghost. It certainly caused quite a commotion. She did eventually die on January 26, 1928 in Onesime’s home.

Temporary Move North and Return

A few months later, in June of 1928, Onesime’s father wanted to go back up country. As Onesime was the only child left, his father strongly suggested that Onesime to move back with his family to a new town in the Northern part of Maine called Madawaska. The Frazer family had built a paper mill there. It was a small town then, but it didn’t take very much time to later grow into a large city.

There was tension between Rosa, Onesime and Onesime’s father, and they didn’t get along very well. Frankly, Rosa detested her father-in-law. In her opinion, he was disgusting and disrespectful, as evidenced by the fact that he would often blow his nose on her kitchen window curtains! (Yuck!) Although Rosa could normally influence Onesime to get what she wanted, she was unable to change his mind on this subject. She also resented the influence his father was able to wield upon him, especially since she knew Onesime did not really want to return to the lumber mill and to wages lower than he was currently earning. Regardless, Onesime and Rosa packed up their belongings and their 5 young children and moved back to nearby Keegan, where they had been married. You can imagine how difficult it must have been with Bill only 10, and Rita, the youngest, 3.

Not surprisingly, they did not stay long. It was very cold – sometimes 60 degrees below zero! When you went out, you had to pinch your nose if you wanted to breathe. Because Onesime's job paid less, they took on other work to make ends meet. In the fall of 1929, they worked for a local farmer picking potatoes. As soon as the crop was harvested, they shipped their furniture by freight, and with their family, drove their car back home to Chisholm. They were lucky, as they were able to easily find and rent another place in Chisholm to live right away, and it only took one week for their furniture to arrive from the shipper. In addition, Onesime was able to get his job back at the J.P. mill. He continued to work there for the rest of his career, and they vowed to never leave the Livermore area again - a vow they kept.

Author's Note: If you were to look at a map of Maine, you would find that Chisholm is not a town of its own. It is/was considered a Census Designated Area (CDP) and as a village, is actually part of Jay.

1931 The First Farm on Moose Hill

In April 1931, they bought the farm on Moose Hill, where they were very happy. They had a large house, a barn, a horse, two cows, and pigs. They also had a sheep named Queenie, which the children raised on a bottle. The first time she was shorn, she produced 16 ½ pounds of wool. They had a big vegetable garden and even cultivated strawberries, blackberries, and plenty of blueberries. There were also trees with apples and pears. Rosa canned a lot that first year – 950 quarts of all different kinds of fruit! All the kids in the family had chores to do: feeding and caring for the animals, weeding, harvesting, cleaning, cooking and sewing.

On March 12, 1932, Joseph Norman Raymond was born. The children, not surprisingly, were often curious about where babies came from. Albert was especially precocious. When Norman arrived, Albert asked his mother where the baby had come from. His mother carefully explained to him the story that was common to tell children in those days. Namely, that an Indian would hide in the closet, leave the baby, and then escape from the house through the woods. Albert rushed outside to see if he could find the Indian’s tracks.

From the time she was very little, Rita looked up to her older brother Albert. He loved all of the animals on the farm, and often mimicked the sounds they made, which was very entertaining. Albert and Rita cared for Queenie, the sheep, who often followed them as they walked thru the fields on the farm. Rita also followed her brother everywhere, and it was Albert’s job to make sure that she got to school and back safely. Eventually, because Albert was never seen without either Rita or Queenie (or sometimes both!), the other "neighborhood" children teased him and called him Mary, and singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” every time they saw him. Albert, being a good sport, took this in stride but looked for opportunities to tease them in return.

1933 A Second Fire

In November of 1933, Onesime’s father took sick. Onesime took him to St. Mary’s hospital, where he died four days later at the age of 68 years. He was buried in the Livermore area with his wife Sophie.

That same year, at Christmas, Onesime and Rosa walked to midnight mass, as it was a nice evening, snowing, but not cold. They returned home at 4 o’clock in the morning, since it was four miles one way. It began to snow, and snowed steadily for two days straight. Onesime couldn’t get to work because the road was not plowed, and there was four feet of snow. On December 29th, 4 days after Christmas, the plow finally went by the house at 9 o’clock in the morning, and at 11:00 the house was on fire. Luckily, Onesime was home. He screamed for the small children to run from the house, and he and the older ones helped to save the car and all of the furniture, except the kitchen stove.

Once again, they were in the street. None of the food they had in the cellar could be saved, because with of all the water they used to try to save the house, everything froze. They had bought the farm from Lawyer Grua, and he had an apartment that would be available in a few days. After staying with Rosa’s sister Alfreda for 3 days, they bought a stove and moved to Reynolds St. in town.

1934 Second Farm on Moose Hill

In the spring of 1934, Mr. Grua helped the family build another small house on Moose Hill, where they started again. They moved their family into the house, even though the house was not completely finished. The family always enjoyed living on a farm on Moose Hill. It was a wholesome life, where you could raise a family, grow your own food, and where neighbors knew each other, and helped each other out. There were plenty of kids to play with, too, between the LaPlante’s, the Record’s, the Mitchell’s and the Gagnon’s.

That first year, while they were re-building, they did not get any livestock. The house was not livable that first winter, because it was unfinished. So, in the winter of 1934 they moved in with Rosa’s mother down in Shuy Flat. That winter, Onesime often gave the kids rides to and from school, which was a few miles away, by letting them ride in the back of the wagon. The children were developing very distinct personalities. Wilfred (Bill) was serious, a thinker and planner - he had ambitions. Cecile was very quiet and shy, very private, a real loner. Blanche was strong, hard-working, frugal, ambitious. Albert was fun-loving, a free spirit, strong, funny, creative and a practical joker. Rita was very serious, shy, tough, direct and a good saver. Rosa became pregnant with Bobby.

1935 A Year of Changes

In the spring of 1935, Onesime and Rosa had completed the work on the house. They bought 2 cows, a horse, and a baby lamb named Peter, which the kids raised by nursing him on a bottle. The family at that time consisted of Bill, 17, Cecile, 16, Blanche, 15, Albert, 12, Rita, 10 and Norman, 3.

In that same spring, while Rosa was pregnant for the last time, their oldest daughter Cecile, who had already run away form home once before, was married to Ernest Robinson, a man nearly as old as Rosa herself. While Onesime and Rosa did not actually approve, at least they thought that being married might tame Cecile’s wild side.

In addition to growing and canning fruits and vegetables, Rosa and Onesime also made their own wine and beer. Wilfred, as the oldest, was often called upon to help bottle it, and hide it from the younger children. The family was not rich – the children, while they always had enough to eat, had a limited amount of clothes. Most of then were made for by Rosa herself either on her treadle sewing machine, or were hand-knit. Each of the children owned one outfit that was for “Sunday best”. For the boys, this meant white shirts.

On one such Sunday, while Wilfred was retrieving a bottle of wine for his father, he took Albert with him. Now, this was a great privilege, because the younger kids did not know where the wine was hidden. We are not sure whose idea it was, but the fact remains that Wilfred and Albert stole a bottle of wine for their own use. (Of course, we suspect the older brother influenced the younger brother, but we have no proof. And clearly, Albert was quite capable of thinking up the scheme himself, as well!!)

So, while Wilfred carried the requested bottle to his father, Albert was sent to a designated hiding place with the extra bottle. Not wanting to get caught, he ran with the bottle under his clean, white shirt. Albert didn’t get away with much – the bottle exploded, spraying all the red contents all over Albert and his clean white shirt. (Needless to say, the escapade was discovered by laundry day, because it is very difficult to get red wine stains out of white cotton, and the smell of wine is easily detectable, to say the least.)

The family planted a large garden, and there were fruit trees and bushes, too. It was probably this summer that the kids remember best, running around barefoot, romping in the fields, sliding on day-old cow flops and competing for distance. The family joined the Grange Hall, where there were community events, especially at harvest time. Living on the farm, in a big family where one had to do one’s share and contribute, was good experience for later life.

They all loved living on the farm, especially Albert and Rita, who were old enough to be happy-go-lucky children, discovering all the opportunities for fun that a farm could represent, but were not so old that the work was a hardship. Besides being very competitive, the one trait that all of the children developed was the ability to tell a story, and throw the bull!

Albert and Rita always played in the hay loft of the barn, even though they were told not to, mostly because it could be dangerous being up so high from the ground. One day they started making tunnels in the hay, and discovered 2 bushels of pears. Rosa had asked Onesime to hide the pears up in the hay so that they would ripen a little faster, and she would then be able to can them at the end of the season. However, Albert and Rita began taking pears to school, and making many new friends, because they would share the pears. When it was time to can the pears, Onesime discovered, much to his dismay, that there was only a peck of pears left – hardly enough to can. Although Albert and Rita were punished for taking the pears, they continued to play in the hay.

Sometimes, they would have competitions, walking across the beams. Now, it was pretty dangerous to do this. Walking over the hay loft, if you fell off, at least you fell into the piles of hay and would get hurt. However, one day when Albert and Rita were scampering across the beams in the barn, Rita slipped, and fell all the way to the floor of the barn, breaking her arm.

Rosa, having had so many children, had developed difficulties moving her bowels, and kept a supply of Ex-Lax in her bedroom. Ex-Lax was distributed looking very much like Hershey bars of chocolate – easily broken into chunks. Albert and Rita would sometimes find their mother going into her bedroom and coming out shortly thereafter chewing something. Thinking that she had hidden candy that she did not want to share, Albert and Rita devised a plan to investigate the next time Rosa left the house. They discovered the two small boxes, and they each devoured a box of their own. Over the next several hours, they made many, many trips outside to the 3-holer outhouse, using many, many pages of the Sears catalog as toilet paper. Their mother only said, “Next time, maybe you’ll ask first”.

The kids were taught to be industrious, and the neighbors always had plenty of jobs they could farm out to the kids on the hill. Albert got a job picking beans for the elderly Mr. LaPlante, but it didn’t last long. Albert, who always loved to carry rocks around, especially in his pockets, put rocks into the bottom of the pail, and filled the rest of the pail with beans. He was fired from his job shortly thereafter.

Many of the kids worked for “Grammy” Royce, who was notoriously stingy. Albert used to tell the story that he and Rita got a job at Mrs. Royce’s picking potato bugs from her potato plants. It was back-breaking hard work, and the bugs moved pretty fast, so they were hard to catch. You had to kill them, too, or they would crawl out of the bucket. “Grammy” Royce would pay them each a penny when they would collect 100 bugs. After Albert finished collecting his 100 bugs, and saw the penny he had earned from all that work, he complained to “Grammy” Royce and said that he was not going to do it anymore – it was too much work for not enough pay!

Often, Rita and Albert would get jobs together, like weeding in the onion patch. Albert, who always had a lot of charm, would sometimes relax, because he was able to convince his sister to do some of his work.

Rita got a job at Stone Record’s place as a cook, where she earned $3 a week. She was very hard-working, and was a good saver. Of all of the kids, she probably had the most money, and was serious about how it would get used for her future. She remembers the time that Bill and Blanche had decided that they wanted to walk 4 miles into town, to the beer hall, and get a beer and dance. They didn’t have enough money, and asked Rita to borrow 10 cents. Rita, who did not approve of such a frivolous way to spend the money she worked so hard to earn, refused. They eventually borrowed the money from Albert, who was much more cavalier.

Now Rosa was always concerned about the impression her family made on others. It was important to her that none of her kids get into trouble with the law and bring embarrassment and shame on the family. “Grammy” Royce, an elderly woman in the community, was also known for her position on drinking, and was famous in the town for temperance.

Bill's High School Graduation picture

In June of 1935, Wilfred graduated from high school, and that summer he worked for Mr. Winfield on his farm, as it was during the depression and work was scarce. Wilfred later joined the CCC’s and was in New Hampshire for sometime. [[url = \url{http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps]]

On August 29, 1935, the last of their children, Joseph Robert Ronald was born in Rosa’s mother’s house in Shuy Flat, with Rosa’s mother acting as mid-wife. By now, the family was getting large (7 children). Of course, there was no indoor plumbing. There was a large outhouse built on the farm to accommodate the large family. Albert and the other children would often reminisce as adults about the good times on the farm, and the “3-holer” that set their farm apart as being distinctive.

There were also neighborhood corn husking parties at Hersey Record’s place – where ears of popcorn were husked, and bunches were tied together and hung on the barn rafters to dry. Every once in a while, while husking, a red ear of corn would be encountered, and the lucky person who discovered it was allowed to select a person of their choice and kiss them. Rita especially liked this game, because it gave her an opportunity to kiss Frank Record.

1936-1941 Back to Town and More Changes

In March of 1936, there was a big flood because the dam broke, so Bill got an opportunity to work with the team of men who were rebuilding the dam. Rosa’s mother, stepfather and sister Ida, who lived down on Shuy Flat, were evacuated from their home, and moved in with Onesime and Rosa for a week. It was very crowded since it was such a small house. In order to make do, everyone slept in shifts.

About this time, Blanche was about 15 and had decided to leave home and go to work. Now for many years, she would tell Bobby that it was because he was so ugly as a baby. However, the real reason was probably more because her sister had left and gotten married, there was a new baby in the house. It was also the depression, and she wanted to strike out on her own, and relieve the family of the responsibility of having to feed her. It also satisfied her sense of adventure. She moved to Boston, and got a job as a housekeeper and nanny for a Jewish family, and worked there for a while. She left that place of employment when the husband made a pass at her. However, with her references, she was able to get another job as a housekeeper and nanny in the Boston area shortly thereafter. She was earning good money in those days, and would sometimes take the train home, bringing presents for Norman and Bobby, who were small. Blanche always had a very generous heart.

In the summer of 1936, Wilfred had an opportunity to get a job in the mill. Onesime knew that they would now need two cars. Instead, the family decided that it was time to temporarily give up the farm. They sold their livestock (but not the farm itself), and moved back to town.

Around the same time, Bill acquired a 1936 Pontiac coupe. Albert found and bought a 1933 Chevy coupe with a rumble seat, which he rode around in, and gave rides to his younger brothers and sister, Norman, Bobby, and Rita.

In 1939, Bill was laid off from the mill. He went to Dexter, Maine to learn to be a machinist, and then later, to learn to be a tool and die maker. Although he returned to J.P. mill, he was soon laid off again. Clearly, the news in the world was not good. Europe was now embroiled in a war with Germany. Bill went to Connecticut to find work, and the family did not know if he would return to Maine (in fact, Bill did not return to Maine to live until his retirement many years later). Before Bill left, Rosa and Onesime decided to sieze the opportunity to have a family portrait taken.

The family (standing from left): Albert, Cecile, Bill; (seated from left): Rita, Rosa, Norman, Onesime holding Bobby in sailor suit, and Blanche.

At that time, jobs were very hard to come by, as the depression was still on. Now that the family was not living on the farm and growing much of their own food, it was difficult to feed the family. Bill had already been in the CCC’s, and it was now Albert’s turn. In October of 1939, Albert, who had completed school through the 8th grade, went into the CCC’s to help support the family. It was not uncommon for the oldest boys to join the CCC’s, earn their own room and board, and send money home. Albert was in the CCC’s twice.

While Wilfred and Albert were away from home, Onesime and Rosa decided to try to re-start by the farm, moving out of the town and back to the little house on Moose Hill. However, it was never the same. They were unable to re-capture the quality of farm life, because Norman and Bobby were not old enough, and with Wilfred and Albert both gone, Onesime was left without boys to help him run the farm. Shortly thereafter, they gave up the farm for good and permanently moved back to town.

Still happy after 25 years.

In 1941, Rosa and Onesime were very proud to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in June.

1942 and During World War II

Albert left for the war in 1942, and Bill left in 1943. By this time, Cecile was already married and having children, and Blanche was married in 1942 as well. Rita graduated from high school shortly thereafter and joined the Navy, stationed in San Francisco.

Rita in the Navy.

So all of the older children were gone, and Norman and Bobby were only 12 and 9 respectively. Of course, during the war, many items were rationed: gasoline, sugar, and flour to name a few. Each family was issued a ration card, and could only purchase the rationed items by using their ration coupons. This was a huge change, and when ever anyone would complain about the hardships, they were told, “don’t you know there’s a war on?” This usually limited further complaints, especially because everyone was in the same situation. Families got very creative, and there were “Victory Gardens” everywhere, to supplement the food supply. Bartering also became very popular, as goods and services were traded.

Norman and Bobby were raised as an almost separate generation. The economics of the family had also changed, as the depression was over, and jobs were plentiful. The family had more money and fewer children to support. However, the younger boys were encouraged to get their own little part time jobs to have spending money.

During the war, Rosa had a severe nervous breakdown that lasted three years. In the window of the house was a display of stars, indicating how many of the family’s children were away fighting in the war. There was a lot of stress during this time, especially getting mail. You dreaded the mail because you didn’t want to receive word that one of your loved ones had been killed in action, or taken prisoner.

Mail delivery was very delayed. In addition to the collection of outgoing mail from soldiers on the front line, and audited by the War Department. It was especially important that no soldier should send home information that could be stolen by the enemy to pinpoint troop locations or deployment plans. Any information like this was redacted from the letter – that is, it was actually cut out of the paper. After being redacted, the letters were photostated. It was called V-mail – “V” for Victory. Albert’s mail was redacted much more than Wilfred’s, because he would try to be sneaky and made up code for his locations – but it never worked.

Bobby also sold Cloverine salve. He worked for months to sell the product, walking all over town to earn enough points to buy a jackknife. Once he was able to get his jackknife, he convinced his parents to buy him 8” tall boots, so he could stick his knife in them, and really look special.

Norman and Bobby were quite a handful, and were doted on by their parents. They enjoyed playing practical jokes on each other. One day, Rosa, who had always had trouble with her bowels, discovered items missing from her bureau. It seems that Norman and Bobby had stolen what they thought were chocolates, and it was ex-lax instead. They became quite sick from their little joke. Clearly, those who are unaware of history are doomed to repeat it.

War is Over

On May 10, 1945, the war in Europe ended, and on August 15, 1945, Japan admitted defeat. In August of 1945, Rosa had some teeth out and they opened up her sinuses. This minor surgery escalated when they discovered that she had cancer in her jaw. She was in the hospital thirty-seven days, and had treatments three times a week for over a year and a half. Before the cancer went into remission, she also had a nervous breakdown, that lasted three years.

On Christmas day, 1945 Albert finally returned home from the war. Although Japan was defeated in August, it took him several months to get home. He traveled on a troop ship across the Pacific Ocean, went through California, traveled by train across the country, processed out at Fort Dix, NJ, took a train home but fell asleep, missed his stop, and had to hitchhike. Some cop saw Albert hitchhiking and gave him a ride home. Because he had spent three years in the South Pacific and contracted malaria, he had difficulty with the cold winter weather, and slept in front of the stove for three months until he re-acclimated to the North.

During the war, people who had been held as prisoners in Japan were slowly returned to the United States. The night that one of the ships docked in San Francisco bay, Rita met Jack B. Lee, a descendant from Robert E. Lee. They were married on November 25, 1945 in San Francisco.

Wilfred, who had not yet married, was the first one to come back home after the war. When he arrived, Norman and Robert were very ill with scarlet fever and the house was quarantined. So, until the quarantine was lifted, Wilfred had to go live with a cousin, Flossie Beaulieu.

When he was in the army, Wilfred had been engaged to a nice girl named Connie, who lived in Brunswick. He expected that they would marry soon after his return, but when he came back from the war, she broke the engagement. Brokenhearted, he moved back to his job in Connecticut. Later, he met a nice girl, Orena Potvin. They were married in Manchester, N.H. on Sept 27, 1946.

Sometime after the war, one of the neighbors had purchased old Mrs. Royce’s house. Albert, who was always known as a big strong guy, was asked to help the neighbor move in. In the process, they also discovered several civil war items and letters stuck in one of the walls.

1948 and Early 1950's

Rosa was a long-time member of the church women's group, The Daughters of Isabella. This photo from Spring of 1948.

In early 1948, Rosa made a trip to Canada with the group she belonged to from the church, The Daughters of Isabella. Later that year, Rosa’s mother, Adelaide died. She was in her 90’s. Rosa was very affected by her death, and missed her terribly. Later that same year, Albert joined Wilfred in Connecticut, at first living with Wilfred and Rena. Later, he found other living arrangements in a rooming house on Prospect Ave, in West Hartford, within walking distance to the gasoline station they bought and operated. (more about that in Albert’s Story).

Then in February of 1949, the doctor advised Rosa to get a job outside of the house, as she was depressed and anxious. A shoe shop had opened in North Jay, and she got a job there. At first, she had a lot of difficulty because she was nervous. She couldn’t stand the noise of the stitching room. Finally, she became adjusted to the environment and working outside of the house. She thoroughly enjoyed her job, and eventually worked at the shoe shop 13 years.

On Christmas day of 1949, Rosa and Onesime decided to buy several building lots on Park St and Birch St within the town limits of Livermore Falls. In February of 1950, the family traveled to Connecticut to attend Albert's wedding to Irene. It was there that Norman met the of love of his life, Irene's younger sister, Yolande.

Rosa, Onesime and high school student Bobby, after Norman was deployed to Korea, circa 1952.

As soon as it was Spring, Onesime, Norman and Bobby began construction on a small house on one of the lots on Park St. with advice periodically from a local carpenter/contractor, Wilfred Mercier. The boys got a lot of valuable building experience that summer. They completed the building of the little house on Park St by the summer. This is the house that that most of the grandchildren remember them living in. Rosa and Onesime were very happy in the small, cozy house for many years. It was the last time they would ever move.

By this time, it was only Norman and Bobby who lived with the them. The house, which only had 2 bedrooms, was large enough for their small family. Everyone else was grown and had left home. Norman, who graduated from high school that June, wanted to go into the military like his older brothers had done. His parents would have preferred for him to go to school, but he was adamant. Although he was in excellent health, he almost did not make the height requirement, as he was the shortest of the four brothers, and a little sensitive about it. Bobby began working for Wilfred Mercier part-time, and continued doing that for the next three years, until he finished high school.

1957 Onesime Retires from the Mill, and their Later Years

Click on this picture to read the article of Onesime's service at the mill.

In February of 1963, Patty remembers that she and her siblings were outside sliding, across the road from Memere’s house when she saw Rosa come out of the house. Suddenly, she slipped on the ice and fell. Now Rosa (Memere) often played pranks on the grandchildren, and at first they thought she was kidding them. It quickly became clear that she had seriously injured herself, and Patty came running and called for medical help.

Rosa with a broken leg, 1963.

It turned out that Rosa had broken her leg, and because of her difficulty in now getting to work, she called the foreman and retired for good.

Onesime and Rosa had some government bonds, so they could have tried again to have a larger house of their own, abut her leg operation was expensive and they didn’t have medical insurance. They ended up using up all of their savings on the operation.

Onesime and Rosa enjoyed their retirement. They took many trips together, and even went to California quite a few times, because by this time both Bill and Bobby lived out there with their families.

Once, they went by car with Annette and Bobby (who notoriously disliked flying) on Route 66, and came back by the south route in order to stop in Alabama for three days to visit Clarence Fournier (Mina’s son). On one trip to California, they even went by bus - that was quite a trip! They were on that bus from Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock to late Friday afternoon, but they enjoyed the adventure, going through all the cities and states. However, most of the time that they traveled to California they went by plane. Now, Onesime almost always wore a hat – inside, outside, it didn’t matter – he liked to wear a hat - a fedora. There’s a great picture of him inside a Las Vegas casino, wearing his hat.

50th Wedding Anniversary

On June 16, 1966, Onesime and Rosa's children collaborated on hosting a large celebration, held at Murray Hall right in town, and invited all of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren as well as their many friends and other relatives. Rosa, in honor of her golden anniversary, wore a gold lame dress, and Onesime was in a new blue suit. There was music and dancing, and food and plenty of drink.

Rosa and Onesime dressed up to go to the 50th anniversary party.

Rosa singing at the party.

A good time was had by all. Rosa, as the spokesperson for the couple (Onesime was a man of few words), made a short speech and thanked all of her children for the wonderful party. And then she also took the opportunity to sing for her guests. Not surprisingly, Albert and the LaPlante cousins also played and sang adding to the festivities. The only small disappointment on the day was the small scandal caused by Rosa's sister Mina. Always jealous of her older sister, Mina had decided to try to upstage Rosa by also wearing a gold lame dress, which annoyed Rosa immensely, especially since Mina had not "earned" it, she had divorced her first husband.

Onesime's Illness and Death – Rosa’s Own Words

Rosa tells the next part of their story in her own words:

“In April, 1967, Onesime started to get sick, trouble with his stomach. He was operated on in August, but they discovered he had cancer throughout his body, and could not fix the problem. A strong man like that – they gave him 5-6 months to live, and gave him some chemotherapy, which caused him to lose his hair. The children all got together and brought him his Christmas early and bought him a very nice suit. It looked so nice on him.

In September, he wanted to go back to his birthplace, and to the town where he grew up. We left on a Friday with our daughter Rita driving for us. Onesime was in the back seat with a pillow and blanket to make him more comfortable. He was so pleased – I will never forget the look on his face when he went to mass in Keegan. We slept in Madawaska and the next day headed for Fort Kent. There we visited all of his cousins, since none of his aunts and uncles were living. The next morning we went to Soldier Pond and Wallagrass, to the church where he was baptized and he made his first communion. He came home from this trip very pleased, satisfied and happy.

On January 8, 1968, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, God called him, and he passed away, so peacefully. It was quite a blow after being married to him for over 51 years. The Thursday before he died, he told me that he would always watch over me.

He did – two years later, he sent me his best friend."

Author's Note

To finish reading about Rosa's life, please return to her page Rosa Yvonne Michaud, and the section after her marriage to Onesime.