"Amanuensis Monday"

These are stories collected from the memories of our beloved "Aunt Claire" ( Claire Chase Bouffard) about her family. Maybe some of you would be consider writing down your family stories? It's a joy and a treasure for other family members to have!

Rodolphe

Of the Beaudoin-Laroche children, Rodolphe had the distinction of having the most children.

Four of his ten children died in early childhood. His six surviving children placed him in a tied position with his sister, Ruth, in having the most children to reach adulthood.

After he and his wife, Mabel Desautels, moved their family from Winooski to the mouth of the river in Burlington, their contact with the rest of the Beaudoin clan were less frequent, as all of his siblings, save Eva, lived within walking distance of each other. Rodolphe did not have a car.

Rodolphe’s wife, Mabel, died in 1942, leaving him with a houseful of young children to raise.

He tried, with the help of his two oldest children, to keep the family together, but it soon became evident that this was not in the children’s best interests. The family was separated. The two oldest were old enough to fare for themselves since they were old enough to work. The youngest were added to the families of Rodolphe’s brothers and sisters.

Azarias went to Séverin (the son), Reginald went to Ruth, Pauline to Amanda, Theodore to Napoleon and Joyce to Estelle. In this way all of the children remained connected to the family.

Sadly, only months later, Joyce died leaving a huge void in Estelle’s family that took a long time to heal.