1939" ‘four

Michelle Catholic Church in
Drummond, New Brunswick.

Four brothers and sisters of the”
Pelletier family were married to
‘three people of the Lagace fami-

ly: ‘and one Pelletier daughter .

_martied someone from a.third -
; family. Here “were eight people. .
- getting ‘Married, seven of them

from two’ families. It was a big

_ day for the couples, the families
7 and the ‘chirch:"° °° “%e-%

by Allie Toop

. ~ Bright and early on Monday
". morning they arrived in the
_church for the ceremonies, Only

_ the. immediate families were
* there,. just over 100 persons.

After the ceremony they all went
to have their pictures taken, and

for that they had to travel 50
‘miles to Edmundston.

The road to Edmundston had

just been built: actually, one
' could not call it a road, it was

more like a trail, and to top it all

off, there was still lots of snow.

One way or another they all
made it there. The Pelletiers ar-.
rived in father Pelletier’s 1930
Chevrolet. After the picture tak-

ing, they turned right around

and headed back to Drummond.

. The trip took all-day and this

outing also was -their -honey-

moon,

That night the bride’s parents

: had a party at their house for all

the couples, and Tuesday night

> the. party was at the groom’s
- parents’ house. By Wednesday it

was back to work for everybody.

This story now centers mostly

. around Lawrence and Jeannette
' Pelletier, . Terrace residents.
. After the party was over, Jean-

nette and Lawrence went off to
grandfather Pelletier’s place,
where they stayed a week and
helped make maple syrup. Back
home again, they would work on
the Pelletier farm in the sum-
mer, and in the winter Lawrence
would supplement their income

- by hauling logs. After a couple
of ‘years they decided to buy
their own farm, Winters were.

still spent hauling logs. This was

at a time when logging with.

horses was the norm.

gi

MOTOR
=iINN=
RU ue

CATCH THE ACT ION

Visit the Northern Motor inn, for -
nightly entertainment. Come. to.
where the ACTION is. - |

3086 Hwy. 16 East
— 85-0875.

‘em in from alll ¢ over

4 ‘On | April - 10,

: ‘After. many. years of potato
couples -were -married in ‘St.

farming and 13 children, they

- found that the farm was just too -

small for their large family, and
they left Grand Falls to go to St.

Quentin where a Jarger farm was:

bought. This was in 1953. Their

family also kept expanding and

‘five more children. were: born

here. : Working the farm:in the

summer and hauling logs during
‘the. ‘winter did not. keep. them
‘from., going. in. the red,:and in

Sep aT

1973 the family-s6ld the farm.

Lawrence and four of. the

‘boys drove out to:B.C. because
_ from what they had heard, B.C.
was the land of promise. Two
days -after arriving in Terrace,
Lawrence and the two oldest

‘boys started working for Beaver -
Logging. Since the ‘family car

only held five persons,. mother
Pelletier and the rest of the chil-

dren arrived later that year by

train,
‘After 12 years with Beaver
Logging, son Roman started his

own logging company and his-
father worked for him, first as a.

‘faller and later as a foreman.
Lawrence retired in 1984 when
he was 66 years old..

Of course Jeannette was not
exactly idly sitting by either. She
never had a dull moment,
although she might have wished
for one once in a while. She was
always very involved with ‘her
children and had lots of fun with
them. She remembers making
lunches for the whole family
when the younger ones were still

-in school and the older ones
were working. She would start
after supper around seven and
finished at around nine or so.
All the kids were big eaters,
especially the ones who worked.
‘Some of them would take five
sandwiches. And of course,
there was all the washing. For
the first six children, all the
washing was done by hand,
rinsed by hand and dried on the
line. When she finally got a
washing machine, a second hand
wringer-washer, she recalls how
wonderful it was to have this
convenience. If you think that
washing, ironing and making
lunches was her life, ‘Oh, no,’’
‘she says, ‘‘I had lots of fun with
the kids and sometimes at night,
we went out to play cards with

Eda Lagace.

the neighbors.?”. bes
Family. dinners °° were “really
something: Sundays. after
church, her parents.-would come
over.and some of her brothers or
sisters. and their families, and
over 40 people-would sit down to
dinner. These dinners were the
highlight of the week and very
much enjoyed by everybody.

Jeannette recalls that. when she -

was pregnant with her last baby,
Sunday dinner was at her house.
She cooked all day, everybody
came and had a good time, and
as soon as dinner was finished,

she said goodbye to the family to °

go to the hospital and have her
baby. ‘‘We never thought about
these things,’’ she says. ‘“We

just went on as long as we could

and when it was time to £0, we
just went.”
The Pelletiers counted. their

blessings on July 8 of this year .

when the whole family. came
from far and wide to celebrate
their parents’ 50th wedding an-
niversary, Some of the children
live in Terrace, the others came
from Montreal, Victoria, Alber-
ta,. Mission, Duncan, Kemano
and Greece, As a special present

_to their parents, the Pelletier

children brought their sister, her
husband and their three children
over from Greece so they could
all be together.

Of the four couples married

50 years ago, only one: other.

couple made it to their 50th an-
niversary. They still reside in
New Brunswick and also came
to Terrace. They are John and

John Lagace is. Mrs.
Pelletier’s brother and Eda
‘Lagace is Mr, Pelletier’s sister.

One of the Lagaces sons is living,

in Terrace.

“The day started off with the
families going to Sacret Heart
Catholic Church where a friend
of the family, Monsignor Larry
Turgeon, presided over the ser-
vice, Monsignor Turgeon made
a special trip from Prince
George to be here. It was a very
special service for everyone.
Mrs. Pelletier was presented
with 18 red roses, one for each
child. Mrs. Lagace received 12
roses, eight red ones for each
child still living and four white
ones, After the church service,

: Terrace Review _ Wednesday, July 26, 1989 . 17 |

Lawrence and Jeanette Pelletier celebrated 50 years 5 of
marriage at the recent Pelletier family reunion in Terrace.
They are one of four couples from the large clan who were
_martied in a single ceremony in New Brunswick in -1939.

John and Eda Lagace travelled from their New Brunswick
home to join the Pelletier family for a big reunion In Terrace

recently.

family and friends gathered at
the Inn of the West for dinner,

and neediess to say, it was a full

house and a happy one!
Congratulatory messages were
received from His Holiness
Pope John Paul II; the Prime
Minister of Canada, Brian
Mulroney; the Governor
General of Canada, Mme.
Jeanne Sauve; the Leader of the
Opposition, John Turner; the

Premier of B.C., Bill Vander

Zalm; the Lieutenant Governor

of B.C., David C. Lam; the
MLA for Skeena, Dave Parker;
and the Office of the Mayor of
Terrace, B.C., acting Mayor
Bob Cooper.

The Pelletier family is truly an
international family, Through
Marriage they are German,
Ukrainian, Mexican, Greek, In-
dian, Irish, French, American
and Canadian. The Pelletiers
have 18 children, 47 grand-
children and four great grand-
children.

SCHOOL DISTRICT #88 (TERRACE)

NOTICE.

ALL THORNHILL AREA PLAYING FIELDS WILL
BE SPREAD WITH GRASS FERTILIZER ON:

AUGUST 2 @ OCTOBER 6

“ALL TERRACE AREA PLAYING FIELDS WILL
‘BE SPREAD WITH GRASS FERTILIZER ON:

AUGUST 3 @ OCTOBER 5