Lucie Duchesne (1938)

Marie Lucie (Lucia) Duchesne was born of Joseph Duchesne and Eva Lamoureux at St-Joachim parish, Abitibi on August 2, and was baptised on the 18th at home. She married Ronald Willard on January 7 at St-Laurent parish, Trois-Rivières. She mothered Joseph Jean-Jacques (1955), Marie Doris Sharon (1957), William Ronald Thomas (1958), Joseph Gabriel Dwayne (1961), Marie Denise Jennyfer (1963), and Joseph Bruno Sidney (1965) Willard at Trois-Rivières.

She resided at Trois-Rivières through May 1955 (Jean-Jacques' birth), May 1958 (Jean-Jacques' baptism), and April 1962 (Jean-Jacques' confirmation). She resided at Domaine Levesque from 1973 until 1981, when she moved to Sept-Îles. A letter she wrote in November 1981 has a Sept-Îles address, her husband died there in September 1982, and she was there in June and September 1986 for the birth and baptism of her grandchild Jesse Plamondon-Willard.

She was known for her generosity. She was a foster mother for up to 15 children at a time during an indeterminate time period. She owned a canteen at Ville de Grâce for an indeterminate time period circa 1981; she eventually went bankrupt because she let people eat for free if they said they had no money. She let people stay at her house for free if they had no place to stay.

She was an avid fisher and berry picker, and sold tubs of berries and jars of jam.

She died on January 4 at the Sept-Îles hospital at the age of 68, of cigarette-related heart failure.