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Love lasts over 60 years through trials and tribulations
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Germaine and Ferdinand Levesque celebrated their 60th anniversary on Aug. 16. Their love has lasted throughout the years because (as they say) they have communicated with one another and been honest.
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A picture of the loving couple on their wedding day August 16, 1949.
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Susan Thompson
for South Peace News
Happily ever after doesn’t only happen in the movies. Sometimes you don’t have to look farther than your own backyard to find a true love story.
Ferdinand and Germaine Levesque have been together since horses were still common on the streets of Falher, when milk still came from the local milkman’s dairy cows and Newfoundland was just joining Confederation.
Last week, the couple celebrated their diamond anniversary. They were married 60 years ago on August 16, 1949.
The couple met through their families.
“My father did a lot of work for her Dad. We used to see each other a lot,” Ferdinand explains.
“I already had a brother married to his sister,” Germaine chimes in.
The couple soon started dating.
“We did a little bit but then she went for nursing, for her education,” Ferdinand explains. Germaine was studying at the General Hospital in Edmonton. She spent two years away, while Ferdinand stayed back home in Falher.
Nothing happened between the couple until Germaine came back home on a holiday.
“We went to the same dance. I didn’t know she’d be there and she didn’t know I’d be there,” Ferdinand remembers fondly. He didn’t let the opportunity pass him by.
“We were dancing and I just asked her if she wanted to be my wife,” Ferdinand smiles.
Germaine admits she was surprised.
“I didn’t expect that. I didn’t think he remembered about that,” she says quietly.
Germaine was forced to choose between getting married and her education. In those days, nursing school was like a convent, and nurses were taught by nuns. If you got married, you couldn’t finish your education.
Germaine says it was a hard decision because she loved nursing, but she made the sacrifice and said yes.
“I came for my holidays and didn’t go back,” she says.
Even though the couple wasn’t actually dating when he proposed, Ferdinand knew Germaine was the one for him.
“I always thought she was lovely and kind,” Ferdinand says. “As far as I knew I wasn’t making a mistake. Now I know for sure. It took 60 years to learn it but I know.”
For their honeymoon, Ferdinand and Germaine drove a 1939 Ford to Jasper, and then travelled on through the mountains to Vancouver.
“There was no Rogers Pass,” Germaine remembers.
“Instead of the seven miles you drive now, you had to go 50 miles on the Big Bend Highway. That highway doesn’t exist anymore.”
The couple visited Stanley Park together. Car troubles kept the couple from travelling to Victoria, but they did go on to visit Spokane and Montana in the U.S. before coming back home in time for Ferdinand to help a neighbour with some combining.
The couple went on to have five children together. Two of those children have unfortunately since passed away.
“We’ve had a lot of sorrows and ups and downs,” Germaine says sadly as she remembers the children they’ve lost.
“But we’ve had good moments too,” she says after a moment. “Life is what you make it.”
That’s the main message of the memoir of his life Ferdinand has just completed, a book in both English and French translations titled “My Bountiful Harvest.”
In it, he recalls his many years of farming and some of early days of Falher.
“I was the first municipal secretary when it was organized in 1952,” Ferdinand says. “I didn’t know anything about municipal government but one of the organizers came to see me and wanted me to do it. He convinced me to make an application but I still didn’t believe it.”
The biggest thing the newly formed municipal government worked on was roads, since Falher didn’t have many yet. There was no health unit, no pest control officer, and no welfare either. Ferdinand found himself taking on many different roles as municipal secretary, since there was no one else to do many of the things that needed to be done.
“At one time we had a diphtheria epidemic in Falher and I had to quarantine people, but I said it wasn’t my job.” he says. The milkman’s family came down with the disease and Ferdinand found himself having to quarantine the milkman, and then having to check if people in Falher had the milk and throw it out if they did. Milk had to be ordered in from Edmonton. Knowing an epidemic was beyond the scope of what he could deal with, Ferdinand took action to get a health unit in place.
“I asked council to form a health unit within the M.D., but found out it has to cover a lot more territory.”
The M.D. asked neighbouring municipalities to get involved and the result was the founding of the community’s health unit.
After three years as municipal secretary, Ferdinand quit because he says he doesn’t like politics. But his memoir includes many other memories of the early years of Falher, and his life together with Germaine.
True locals, Ferdinand has lived in Falher for 84 years and Germaine was born and raised in the town.
They say they thought briefly about moving to Edmonton to retire but decided against it.
“We prefer a small town,” the couple says.
The couple distributed signed copies of Ferdinand’s memoir to their family members, including their 11 grandchildren, when they renewed their vows in Jasper on July 25th.
Their daughter had the idea for the family to stay at the same place that the couple stayed on their honeymoon, the Becker’s Chalets, which are still there today.
Family members made speeches to honour the couple’s many years together so far.
As for their advice to couples who want to follow their example, it’s simple and direct.
“Be honest with each other,” Ferdinand says.
“Communicate,” Germaine agrees.
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