Family Origins

I was born on the 30th of December 1915. I was the eldest of twelve children of Emile Lachance and Helena Robitaille. I was baptized in St. Anne's Church the 2nd of January 1916, by Father Joseph Therrien, Dominican.

At that time, large families were the norm among the French Canadians. Mother once told me: "The day of my wedding, your father said to me: 'I dream of having a dozen children around the table." Mother, newly married, could not help exclaiming: "Do you realize what you are saying?" My paternal grandparents had twelve children, and mother's parents still more.

Those were the days when a house full of children was more highly regarded than all the material wealth. My father had a grocery store that enabled us to live with no great luxury but comfortably, up to the great "Depression" of the thirties. In November 1930, a 12th child, Roland, was born. How could we provide for all these children? We had to tighten our belts like everybody else, for a large portion of America was unemployed. No jobs available.

My father was a man with a big and compassionate heart. He could not refuse to feed on credit, customers who had provided for his needs during the more prosperous years. While he was doing charity, the family revenues were diminishing and my father sank into debt in an alarming way. With a dozen children on his hands, he worried so much that he had a nervous breakdown.

Often times, we saw him leave for work in the morning and return home in less than an hour, discouraged and weeping uncontrollably. "What shall we do? If I lose my store, I lose my house, too" (still mortgaged).

Mother, a rather small woman, had great moral strength and a dauntless faith. She would try to encourage him with words like these, "God is not a savage; He will not abandon us."

After a few years, the children grew up and went to work one after another, each one taking home a small salary which, according to the custom of the time, was deposited into the family coffer after the son or daughter was given a small allowance. Eventually, the family debt was paid in full. We have learned during those hard times, how trials that are shared strengthen the bonds of affection between spouses and between parents and children. The cross carried with love transforms noble souls.