The University of Maine
Franco-American Women
(FAS230)
Interview
of
Marie Leone Bard Labreck
by
Evangeline Labreck Hussey
September 27, 2007
Franco-American Women (FAS230) Interview by Evangeline Hussey
September 23, 2007, interview with Leone Labreck of Winslow, Maine.
For my assignment, I chose to interview Marie Leone Bard Labreck, more commonly known as Leone. For the record, she agreed wholeheartedly to let me share her history or what others might call “herstory.” I looked for the unsung heroine in this woman and found much about her that I considered heroic. But, I forewarn you that I could be a little biased. She is my mother.
Before we began the interview, we studied some genealogy reports and other records that Leone had. This is some of what we found. She was born February 8, 1930, in Fort Kent, Maine, to Hilaire Bard and Marie Alma Dufour, more commonly known as Emma. Hilaire was born in 1886 in St. Luce, Frenchville, Maine. Emma was born on May 10, 1896, probably in Frenchville. The two were married in 1911 in Fort Kent when Emma was just 16 years old. Hilaire’s great-great-great-great grandfather was Guillame Bard who, according to the records, emigrated to French Canada from Bordeaux, France, sometime in the mid- to late-1600s. According to a 1983 publication of the Madawaska Historical Society and other genealogical records of the family, Emma’s great-great-great grandfather was “Gabriel-Robert Dufour, who left his homeland in the parish of St. Jacques, Lisieux, in the province of Normandy, France, and established the Dufour name upon the Continent of North America in the year of our Lord circa 1694.”
We noticed that Leone and her nine siblings (the number that survived beyond infancy from a total of 18 of Emma’s pregnancies) had been similarly named; the females were all named Marie and then given a name, like my mother who was named Marie Leone and her sisters who were named Marie Theresa, Marie Cecile, Marie Edwidge, Marie Jeanette, and Marie Virginia; and the males who were named Joseph and then given a name, like Leone’s brothers who were named Joseph Leonard, Joseph Philip, and Joseph Lucien. The one exception to this was one of her brothers who was named Jean Baptiste after their grandfather. (This one of Leone’s brother was a Catholic Brother for 25 years.) Another relative had also been named Jean Baptiste; that was, Jean Baptiste Cote who lived in the late seventeenth century. We read earlier in this class that naming children after the Holy Mary and Joseph was a very common practice for those in the Catholic religion, and Leone’s family certainly provides additional proof of that.
Leone reflected further on how she and her siblings were named. She said, “I believe that because my mother had so many children, she took names from some of her nieces and nephews because I have cousins named Leone as well, who are older than I am.” Records also indicate that she had an aunt named Leone.
Leone explained that she recalled that her maternal grandmother, whom she called “Grandmere,” was a mid-wife who would come to the house each time her mother had a baby, and that her grandmother lived to be 94 years old. Old age is common in this family; Leone’s mother lived to be 96.
Leone’s parents lived for a long time in Fort Kent, where her father worked in the woods and in the potato fields. She explained that when the potatoes were ready to be picked, everyone pitched in to help including any children aged 12 and older.
Leone related that at the St. Louis School in Fort Kent the nuns spoke mainly in English with the rare exception of classes in religion, when they taught in French. Leone said that she spoke only French and, therefore, had few friends beyond her siblings and cousins who also spoke her language. Leone remembered having only one or two friends with whom she associated outside the family, and they were the children of people for whom her sisters worked as housekeepers. She said she felt isolated in Fort Kent, never assimilated with the others, and “missed out on a lot of subjects growing up”. She explained that she “felt alienated from the other children who spoke English” and that “being so poor and wearing hand-me-down clothes made me feel as though we were from a different society all together.”
The family moved away from Fort Kent permanently after an incident in which Hilaire became lost in the woods. Leone told the story of how her father had gone into the woods to look for a particular type of wood to make an ax handle, something she said he did all the time. It was in October, though, and the days had gotten shorter. He lost track of where he was, and when he met up with a mother bear and her cub, the mother bear saw Hilaire and started “thumping on a tree to warn him off.” Hilaire then ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, carrying with him only his knife and his rosary beads, which Leone said, “gave him some comfort.” Three days later, as the story goes, Hilaire was either “incoherent or unconscious” and was found by some Native Americans who contacted the wardens and helped Leone’s father return to camp. It was shortly thereafter in November of 1941 that Hilaire, Emma, and their six youngest children moved permanently to Waterville. Leone recalled that her older siblings had already married or moved away by that time.
Leone explained that the family stayed for the first few days with her Uncle Alphonse Bard and that they later found a rent on Green Street in Waterville. At the time, she had relatives on both her mother’s and father’s side living in Waterville. Since World War II had just begun, her father had no trouble finding work at the Hollingsworth and Whitney mill across the Kennebec River in Winslow. Soon after, Hilaire and Emma bought a home in the “Head of Falls,” an area in Waterville located between Front Street, which ran parallel to the Kennebec River, and the river itself. Leone explained that the “Head of Falls” was separated from Front Street by a set of railroad tracks. Although there was a driveway across the tracks, the family walked most of the time and simply crossed the tracks to get to the house. Leone explained that at the time there was a huge “neighborhood in the ‘Head of Falls’ with many houses, a woolen mill, and a foundry” all located there. She also remembered that at that time the family of George Mitchell lived just across the tracks on Front Street.
Leone came to Waterville when she was 11 years old and recalled details of her schooling and social interactions there. She said that after the family moved to Waterville, Leone found the children much friendlier, but she indicated there were still language barriers. Her parents never spoke English and could neither read nor write, so she remembers that even shopping in the stores presented some difficulties for the family. Over time, though, Leone and her siblings all learned to speak and write English, which helped assimilate them in Waterville. Her siblings Leonard and Jeanette were the only ones in the family to get traditional high school degrees, although many, including Leone, earned General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) later in life. Leone explained that when she was in high school, getting an education was not as important as getting a job. She said, “It was more important to be able to earn some money.” She remembered that the most common jobs were taking care of children, cooking, and cleaning for other families.
Leone remembers that in Waterville her father found a job splitting wood at the Hollingsworth and Whitney Paper Mill, which was steady work, and he remained at the mill for about 10 years until he retired at age 66. Leone’s mother never went outside the house to work except for a brief period of time when she worked as a dishwasher at the Green Lantern Restaurant on Route 201 in Winslow. Leone explained that her mother never drove a car so she walked quite a distance to work each day, and it wasn’t long before Hilaire convinced Emma to stay home. Leone recalled that her mother truly enjoyed making a little of her own spending money because she never had an allowance and Hilaire handled all the money while he was alive.
Leone went on to explain that her parents were very religious people, especially Emma who went to mass every morning. The children went, too, she said, following along as their mother walked to church. Leone said that her “parents depended on the priest to help them make any important decisions.”
In Waterville, Leone attended St. Francis de Sales School and made more friends, quickly picking up more of the English language. She explained that she didn’t do much math but read a lot, often “going to the library to borrow books.” Leone explained that she went to Catholic schools where the nuns taught, mostly in English “except for the classes in religion.” She also learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. She remembered that the nuns were very strict, but that they were respected, and that it was believed “that was the way the good Lord intended it to be.”
I asked Leone to reflect back a little more on her childhood. She said that after they moved to Waterville and her father got a steady job, things were much better financially than they had been in Fort Kent. She said she never remembered going hungry but recalled that they had more meals with meat in Waterville, usually a roast beef and sometimes a chicken. In Fort Kent, they would usually have meat only on Sundays or on religious holidays like Easter.
Leone explained that they always had hot oatmeal for breakfast and that her mother made ployes, which they ate like bread with other meals. She explained that the ployes were made with buckwheat flower, since “buckwheat grew well in the cold Fort Kent weather.” Her mother would cook the ployes on top of their big cast iron stove, and they would eat them with molasses or peanut butter. Once, Leone recalled, her father made a batch of maple syrup, which she said “was very good on the ployes.”
Leone explained that their holidays were mostly religious events, like Easter, which she described as a “feast day.” Leone recalled that at Christmastime her family rarely gave or received gifts, saying, “We just did not have the money for that.” But, she remembered the children always hung their stockings and “could expect an orange and a piece of ribbon candy, which was a treat!”
Leone explained that she loved working at Woolworth’s Five and Dime on Main Street in Waterville during her high school years. She was assigned to work in the glassware department (partially explaining why she loves glassware today and has handed that down to her daughters!) “In fact,” she noted, “I was there when the first pieces of Fiesta Ware (now extremely collectable) were uncrated.” That was in 1946 or 1947. Many people in Waterville at the time could speak both French and English, and during her time at Woolworth’s, she was only asked once to interpret for someone.
She stayed in school until her junior year in high school. At that time, Leone’s very best friend had to quit school to help her mother who was sickly and whose husband had died during World War II. Leone’s sister, Theresa, was already working at the C.F. Hathaway Shirt Company in Waterville, making what Leone considered “decent money” so she decided to quit school and go to work there.
At the C.F. Hathaway Company, Leone was first assigned to iron and button shirts. From her, the shirts went on to be folded by someone else. Leone explained that it was all piecework, and every minute counted. When asked what a “decent wage” was at that time, she explained as a comparison that when she met her future husband, he was working in an automobile garage. Leone was making $1.28 per hour on average at that time, and that was just about what he was making in the garage. “However,” she explained, “he had to pay his own insurance and mine was covered for me.” She stayed at the C.F. Hathaway for a period of four years.
Leone had been engaged briefly during high school to a young man and had dated others as well, but it was while she was at the Hathaway that she first met Lawrence Wilfred Labreck, Sr. The two were introduced by his brother, Jerry Labrecque. Larry was five years older than Leone. He was a widower who had served in the U.S. Army’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS). (Apparently, it was while he was in the Army that his name had been anglicized from Labrecque to Labreck, but others in the family continue to use the French spelling to this day.)
Anyway….Leone explained that Larry’s first wife had died just a short time before, leaving him with two boys under the age of two. At the time Leone and Larry met, she was only 19 years old, and she admitted to me that she initially hesitated to get too deeply involved with him. After seeing each other on and off for two years, though, Larry won her over and convinced her to marry him. Thinking back on their courtship, Leone commented that she “just found him to be a very unusual man.” (I know that she believed Larry needed her and that she was thinking of those two little boys, believing that it was the right thing to do.)
Leone explained that they were married on May 5, 1951, at St. Francis de Sales Church in Waterville. She explained that she was a member of that particular church because she lived in the “Head of Falls.” There were three Catholic churches in the Waterville area at that time, and it depended on where you lived as to the church that you attended. Their wedding was attended by a small group of family members, and the reception was a dinner held at her parents’ home. Leone recalled that she wore a dark “blue suit, off-white hat, and cream colored blouse” and that Larry also wore a dark blue suit. She carried a bouquet of small white flowers with long streaming ribbons. She noted that they went to Vermont for their honeymoon, where they visited with one of her sisters and brother-in-law.
Later, she remembered that a salesman came to the house, took one of their wedding photographs, enlarged it, and hand tinted the enlargement. (It was framed in an oval carved wood frame that was painted to look like silver and the picture was covered by a concave piece of glass. The portrait is fading, so it has been stored in an old trunk, but it still remains in its original frame and glass.)
Along with the two boys from his previous marriage, Lawrence Wilfred Labreck, Jr. and Stephen Ernest Labreck, Leone and Larry had three daughters, Maria Delisca Labreck DeSalme, Bernadette Annabelle Labreck Guber, and me, Evangeline Theresa Labreck Hussey. (For the record, I was the middle daughter and was named after the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Acadian heroine, Evangeline. The poem was a favorite of my mother’s.) On a question from me Leone said that her fondest memory was giving birth to her three daughters, what she described as “the greatest thing in this world.” (Do you think she was just saying that for my sake? _ ) Her biggest regret, she said, was not being able to take the children to school activities or for lessons in dancing because she did not drive at that time and could not “depend on a husband who was out making a living.” She said that, thinking back on it now she probably should have gotten her driver’s license sooner. (She got it when she was about 40.)
Anyway....Leone and Larry built their first house using the G.I. Bill. She said that Larry believed that he could do better so he sold the house, and the family rented an apartment for a while. After the family grew a little more with the birth of their first two daughters, their landlord told them they would have to move, and that was when they moved to a duplex in Vassalboro.
At the time, Larry worked shift work at the Scott Paper Company (formerly the Hollingsworth and Whitney Company) in Winslow and also continued to work in an automobile garage. Leone explained that because she did not drive at the time she only went shopping for groceries and clothes when Larry could take her. She did admit that he liked the family to dress well, especially for holidays and particularly enjoyed taking them shopping for nice clothes.
During their 45 years of marriage, Leone and Larry spoke French to each other but only spoke English to their children. When asked about this, Leone explained that Larry Jr. spoke French when he was very young, having been cared for by an elderly lady “down the plains” in Waterville who spoke French. It was Leone’s intent to have him continue speaking French, but when he heard his brother Steve speak English, who was being cared for by grandparents who spoke only English, Larry Jr. slowly lost all of his French. So Leone and Larry used French to speak about things that they didn’t want the children to hear, and, although they didn’t require their children to speak French, she said she always believed it was important to keep her language. Leone also said that she truly believed that the children would learn to speak proper French in school, noting that her “patoie” or language had changed so much, from simply speaking it and not writing it, that it was not like the French language in either Quebec or France.
Leone’s mother never learned to speak English. Leone said it was because her mother was proud and “was afraid that someone would laugh at her for saying something wrong.” Leone recalled that Emma was a very good cook. In addition to the ployes, Leone said that some of her favorite meals were her mother’s roast beef and chicken stew. We talked a little about the chicken stew, which Leone said her mother made with homemade dumplings and savory, a fragrant spice that goes very well with chicken. Leone explained that her mother made the dumplings like pasta, by combining flour and homemade chicken stock, rolling the dough out, and cutting it into pieces, which were then dropped in to the boiling stew. Leone remembered that Emma liked to make that stew whenever the family would get together. Regarding the roast beef, Leone explained that her mother cooked it in the big black stove and that she always put her potatoes right in with the beef. Leone remembered that the potatoes were so delicious that way, coming out yellow and tender.
Around 1954, Leone’s father passed away. She and her siblings had all moved away by that time, and Emma remained alone in the house in the “Head of Falls.” Before long, though, Leone recalled, the City of Waterville began an Urban Renewal project to tear down all the buildings, what they “considered fire hazards,” in that area. City officials planned to build a park in the area and offered Leone’s mother a small sum of money for her property, but Leone said she didn’t want to sell. Eventually her mother was forced to move because the City shut off water and other necessary services to the site. Leone remembers that her mother moved into a rent on Western Avenue and offered the property to anyone in the family who would be willing to pay the taxes. Leone explained that she and Larry took over the payments, but there was nothing much to be done with the property itself since the house had fallen into disrepair and, without water or electricity, was unable to be rented. Although Waterville offered very little for the property, Larry and Leone eventually accepted the offer, giving the money to Emma “to put towards funeral expenses.” Leone explained that her mother was pleased to have the money since she had no other way to earn any. (The land was cleared, but a park was never built on that site. Emma later moved to an apartment in Jeanette’s home and spent her last years at Mount St. Joseph’s, a nursing home in Waterville.)
About Emma, Leone remembered that her mother depended on the “fact that God was looking after her, and that no matter what happened in her life that it was God’s will.” She remembered that Emma would kneel by her bed every night to say her prayers and that she and Larry had found a kneeler for her at an auction. She remembered that Emma would always have “As the World Turns” on her television set, even though she didn’t speak English and could not understand what was being said. Leone recalled that her Aunt Lizzy, who had learned to speak English, would come over and translate for Emma, telling her what had been happening on the soap opera during the past week. Leone also fondly recalled how her mother would make up her own story of the characters.
I asked Leone to answer a few random questions, and again she graciously agreed. She remembered when she and Larry purchased their first television. She said it was more of a “social thing, a time to sit down with the family to watch the news.” She thought that airplanes were one of the most important inventions she saw in her lifetime but that the computer was probably the greatest invention she had seen. This subject led us back to a discussion about the C.F. Hathaway Shirt Company.
When Larry finally got a day shift at Scott Paper Company and their five children had grown up, Leone decided to go back to work at the Hathaway. This time, she was taught how to reweave the fabric and inspect the shirts for flaws. Leone explained that the company purchased special eyeglasses for her to wear to do this. She remembered that at that time the mill had contracts for some of the best designer names including Ralph Lauren and Jack Nicklaus.
On a question from me, Leone recalled that there were not many men who worked there but mostly women, many of them Franco-Americans. She said, though, that they didn’t speak to each other in French very often because they didn’t want to be rude to others who might not understand the language. She said she truly enjoyed going back to work, where she felt good about earning some money. She also recalled that the union had come in and that made it a little better for the workers who received a few extra benefits and more opportunities. She said that “wages were better, they received more holidays,” and the insurance coverage was good. She recalled being named “Employee of the Month” once, mainly, she recalled, because she tried to keep a good attitude. Although Leone had received her driver’s license by that time, Larry would drop her off at the mill each morning and pick her up each night. She worked there at the Hathaway for another 20 years.
Leone recalled going with Larry to North Carolina in 1994, something she described as “quite an experience” to meet members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), many of whom had joined the CIA and FBI after leaving the service. It was the 50th reunion of the end of WWII and the OSS records had recently been declassified (released for public viewing). One of the FBI agents had picked up a copy of Larry’s records, which detailed his stints in France, China, and Burma. (Larry had been chosen for the OSS because he could speak fluently in French and English and because he was street-smart. During World War II, members of the OSS parachuted down behind enemy lines and helped the Maquis, or citizen military, in their underground battles against the German armies.) Leone recalled that, upon leaving the OSS, Larry had sworn an oath of silence and rarely spoke about his OSS experiences. While in North Carolina, Leone remembers visiting the OSS Library housed there. She also remembered that Larry was not feeling well but” drove all the way back” home.
In 1996, after a long battle with cancer, Larry passed away. (One of the things that the family immediately noticed about Leone, who had previously seemed very reserved, was that she assumed a strong “take charge” attitude, something we felt she always had but had just allowed her husband to demonstrate more often.) Leone had taken a leave of absence from the Hathaway to help care for him and returned to work soon after. By 1997, though, Hathaway shirts were being contracted with overseas workers, and Leone was soon told that she was being laid off. Her retirement pay, after a total of 26 years with the company, is $150 a month, just enough, she says with a laugh, to cover her supplemental insurance.
Leone took advantage of a training program that was offered to the displaced Hathaway workers. Since she already had her GED, she began taking computer classes at Mid-State College in Augusta. She was 66 years old at the time.
Leone explained that she wanted to study computers because she “knew absolutely nothing about them” and felt that they were “the coming thing.” She explained, “ I studied more math and English and did a lot of writing about my past.” She recalled that she was never treated any differently than any other student and never felt out of place, noting that some students were unmarried mothers while others were servicemen. She just remembers keeping a smile on her face and trying to keep a good attitude.
During that time, Leone also volunteered at Waterville’s two hospitals and at the Maine State Museum in Augusta. In fact, she amassed a total of 3,600 hours of volunteer time, “enjoying every hour” at something she says was “worth every moment.”
That led us to a discussion of what Leone does today. Leone explained that when the Winslow Library was located on Lithgow Street and was flooded in 1987, she helped them move the books to a new location. (She had also taken the library’s collection of large white plaster busts to a local automobile garage - old friends of Larry’s - to be repainted, which I always found interesting.) The library was a place she loved so after two years in college and after earning 72 college credits, when she was offered a part-time job at the new Winslow Library on Halifax Street, she happily accepted. Although she had to be taught the library’s software system, with her college training she said she felt comfortable working with the computer. That was 1999, and she has worked there ever since, averaging around 20+ hours a week. She is now 77 years old.
The oldest person Leone remembers in her family was her Grandmother Bard who taught Leone how to knit when she was just five years old, saying that her grandmother was very patient. Leone recalled that when she took a high school home economics class she learned to crochet, cook, and sew a little. Since her mother had always done all of that at home, plus all the cleaning for the family, Leone had never learned those skills from her mother. Leone said with a chuckle that she only learned how to wash a floor when she married and had two little boys of her own. (Later in life, Leone taught herself how to read crochet patterns and has made several beautiful large doilies over the years as donations for non-profit silent auctions.) She remembered sewing jumpers, skirts, and vests for her three girls (that was in the early 1970s) on an old Singer pedal sewing machine that had been her mother’s.
Leone recalled that one of the most important books that she read was a banned book by Ben Ames Williams. She also said that they were not allowed to read the Bible, which surprised me. She explained that the priests thought it best if they explained to people what was written in the Bible since it could be easily misinterpreted. She said that her family did not have a Bible at home, but she recalled having a missal, which she used at Mass.
She remembered when denim was only worn “to do work around the home.” She remembers bobby socks and poodle skirts. She remembered learning how to reupholster a sofa from Larry, who had learned that skill while working on automobiles in the garage. She noted that he had also later reupholstered the seats in his airplane.
Leone said the greatest influence in her life was her family, especially her siblings. She loves spending time with her brothers and sisters and noted the closeness they have shared all through their lives. She chuckled when she mentioned how she continues to have her “brothers and brother-in-law over to play cards once a week.” She also mentioned her immediate family, saying how much she has enjoyed being a mother, a grandmother, and “now a great-grandmother!”
Leone has demonstrated how to accept both challenges and opportunities, how to face difficult times and use them to become stronger, how to help others and give of oneself in the community, how to maintain a good attitude, and how to live life to the fullest. In my eyes, Leone is a true unsung heroine. Thank you for letting me share “herstory” with you.
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Questions used in the interview