Lalonde children

Lalonde boys, date unknown

Lalonde children 1984 (Roland is missing)

Pardon the formatting issues, I'm still learning this Blogger thing...

After owning a couple stores on Bell St in Ottawa, Honoré bought a motel on Carling Ave near Britannia.  He was definitely the entrepreneur of the boys.

In the late 1940's and early 1950's John and Laurette McBride (nee Lalonde) lived on top of Honoré’s store on Bell St in Ottawa, and their kids used to call him "Mon Oncle Noré." Helene McBride was born in 1946, and remembers Honoré's sons Pierre and Paul as the older cousins she used to play with every so often. 

Honoré eventually moved his store across the street to a newer, larger location which included a butcher counter.  His next move was to Ottawa's west end.

Jeanne, and Laurette were very close sisters. Angeline, the oldest, married Jean-Baptiste Raymond.  He was a bit of a recluse, but a fantastic fiddler.  He always played until the wee hours of the morning on New Years' Eve.

Herve and Jeanne had a 20-year-long feud regarding their father's house, during which they didn't speak to each other.

Roland (missing in the 1984 photo) was a their mother's favourite son, a boxer, and served in Korea as part of the Canadian Army.  

Memories of my mother

In May 2013 Robbie spoke with Uncle Hank about his parents.  Here's what he remembered...

Laurette went to mass every morning at 7 am, then come home and make breakfast. She always sat in the same pew.

Laurette loved to play cards and board games.  Played with her brothers and sisters. They’d meet at each others' houses and play cards once a week.  She was always baking.  If she didn’t win at cards she’d get mad as a hornet.  If she lost at her house no one ate anything.

She was outgoing, loved to laugh, was a very good person.  A great hostess.  She could whip up a meal in no time flat.  She always knew what everyone liked, and you never left her place without leaving with food.  Laurette et ses sacs.  She liked her wine.

She had a special cane with a built-in flask for her brandy “for medicinal purposes”

Hank thought, “my mother is a saint.”  She couldn’t find fault with anyone.  Don’t recall ever seeing her angry.  Never had any biases, and had a deep, deep, unshakable faith. 

During the war Laurette worked in the post office bank, worked there a long time after the war.  She enjoyed that job.  

She worked at Murphy Gambles, started as an elevator operator, and did catering for a while.  She baked cakes for catering.  Hank delivered the freshly-iced cakes on his bicycle.  At Murphy Gambles, she ended up as second in command in personnel office.  She worked for Mrs. Hall, and continued to do so.

Laurette worked as a hostess at Old Heidelburg Restaurant next to old Myers Motors on Bank St.  She and John worked six days a week for many years.

Memories of Grandmaman

In the late afternoons at Therese’s cottage, Grandmaman (Laurette McBride) would take out the cards and her huge jar of pennies and would teach my cousins and me to play a simple game called 31, which included making bets with pennies.  At least, I thought it was a simple game, but she always won. 

Looking back, maybe it wasn’t such a simple game after all.  We played with the pennies from her jar, so we never had to bring our own.  Inevitably, her pile was always the biggest, and all the pennies went back into the jar for the next time.  So that’s what she taught me about gambling with money:  if you do it, take the pennies out of the jar, have fun with your grandchildren, and put all the pennies back in the jar for next time.  It’s the only kind of gambling our family ever did!

She had a marvelous laugh, she was the life of the party, and she always had a smile on her face. 

She had a sparkle in her eye, and she loved her family, and she only ever wore White Shoulders Perfume.  I could always count on her to have a can of Pure Spring Ginger Ale in the refrigerator and those Cadbury Lady Fingers.  She was the perfect hostess, and looking back, although she was quiet and unassuming, she was the centre of the family, and family was everything she had. We all knew she loved us.

Grandmaman was an example to me of what family life should be.  She was always happy, and celebrated the simple things.  She was classy, consistent, and we all loved her.  And we always knew that she loved us back.

- Robbie