Arthur L'Heureux

Although weddings are meant to be happy occasions, Arthur's marriage to Lucille Lambert on May 29, 1906 in Jackfish Lake, Saskatchewan was marred by the fact that Arthur was very ill and had recieved the Last Sacrament of the Roman Catholic Faith. However, he recovered and raised a family of fifteen.

The seventh son, Ulric, had a gift of healing. He started showing that he indeed had this gift at the age of three. When he was about four years old, the Bishop came to the parish and blessed Ulric and his gift. He performed many healings. Only one example of his "powers" was seen when he restored Mrs. Lacombe's hearing after only three sessions with Ulric. She had previously been totally deaf.

Arthur farmed in Delmas for a time before moving to Jackfish, and finally settling in Vawn, Sask. He expanded and did mixed farming. He broke land for other folks, first with horses, and later with power machinery. He had a self contained threshing outfit consisting of cookhouse on wheels, with cook, a bunkhouse and six teams of horses. Then he increased his land holdings as his family grew. He then bought 3/4 section of land from Mr. Jules Thomson.

Each spring, he would go to his Dads ranch and bring back home young Broncos to be broken into the harness. When spring seeding had been completed and the Broncos were broke in, he would return them to his Father. In the winter, he would not stay idle but did custom wood-sawing for firewood and grain crushing for animal feed.

In 1922, Arthur had a "McLaughlen" car and in the summer time, he would load up his family to go to church at Jackfish Lake, then onto Grandma's for dinner.

In the early 20's, Arthur had a brown mare and a roan gelding pulling a high gear cutter which we used for winter travel. His horses were dressed in light harness, complimented with two banks of silver bells that completely wrapped around the horse. On the bridles, the crown strap was covered with a nickel shield, and on the forehead were fobs made of brass in the form of horse shoes, with a horses head mounted inside the horse shoe. Arthur, being a proud man, insisted that these bells and fobs be shined and polished before they were used on Sundays.

As the family grew. he needed a larger mode of travel. He called it his "carriolle" (meaning a two-seated cutter), mounted on light bob-sleds.

Occasionally in the evenings, he would take a walk to town and play pool with the boys while Lucille would sew and mend and made sure that the children did their homework.

It wasn't all hard work with no play. During the winter, they had card parties, socials and dances at different homes. (Summertime was reserved for hard work.) They would be invited to go to dances at different municipalities and because Arthur has a gas lamp, their admission would be free.

In the summer, Lucille would pick wild berries of all sorts. She would can about 300-400 quarts of wild berries a year besides tending a huge garden.

Arthur also worked dragging the highways when the Liberals were in power. When the big depression hit, he had to use the chasis of his Model T Ford as a Bennett Buggie, named after R.B. Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada at the time. The procedure was to use the frame and wheels of the Model T and remove the motor. This would then be dragged by horses.

Arthur never swore when things went bad; instead he whistled. Enemies--he had none, and was always ready to land a helping hand.

In the spring, Arthur would help at ranch branding, using his own saddle horse.

Arthur was also a School Trustee for several terms. There was also the Raleigh man who made his head-quarters at Arthur's. He would distrubute his goods all over the country side by day and return at night.

In 1925, Arthur bought the vacant Bank of Commerce Building, 2 storeys high. It was 25' by 50' and was moved from the Village of Vawn to his farm, a mile and a half away. He had contracted the moving to Jack Jolly from North Battleford for the sum of $400.00. Twenty eight teams of horses were used.

Then in 1927, his oldest daughter, Dorilla, married Dave Gelinas. All the friends and relatives were invited. Dinner was served from 12 noon to 3:00 in the afternoon. Everyone danced until the wee hours of the morning in Arthur's house.

In 1932, the drought set in and there were no crops. In 1933, he moved lock, stock and barrel to Leoville. In the winter of 1933, he moved all his farm implements by sleigh and horse teams. On April 3rd, in the early spring, he left Vawn with three wagons, four horses pulling each one, and one Bennett Buggie pulled by two horses and driven by Lucille. he also had all his milk cows and young stock. It took seventeen days to travel one hundred miles. Because it was early in the spring and everything was thawing, they ran into some very difficult times, and suffered great hardships. In some places, he nearly lost his horses in the mud and once had to put a chain around the horses' necks and pull them out.

Arthur farmed near Leoville from 1933 to 1940, and ran a blacksmith shop as well.

In 1935, Arthur got a job with two horses to operate a pile-driver while the bridge was being built at "The Big River". Maurice, one of his sons, drove the horses for his Dad. That winter the temperature went down to -72 degrees F. for four days. They couldn't work then as their camp was a tent and it was too cold to live in them.

After Arthur moved to Leoville, he never had a good wheat crop. Finally he decided to move his blacksmith shop into Leoville but kept his farm. There he began to do custom blacksmithing and did very well.

Then disaster struck. One morning, while working in his shop. a piece fo metal flew into his eye and the eye had to be removed. The irony of this is that Arthur had only one good eye and that's the one he lost. It was a very traumatic time of his life. Then, a year later, he was stricken with cancer of the stomach and died in Leoville on Feb. 23, 1940.

The family transported his body with a team of horses on a sleigh. It was balmy weather. The first stop was Spiritwood, which is twenty-five miles from Leoville. There, they made arrangements for a truck to transport him to Jackfish Lake. They ran into a blizzard. The four boys, who were riding in the back of the truck, almost froze to death. It took them six hours to make a two hour trip. There, Arthur, was taken to his Dad's house in Jackfish, to lie in state and he was buried in the same cemetary as his father. Six of his sons were pallbearers.

Seven of his sons served in the armed forces: five in the army, one in the airforce and one in the navy. When the war ended, the family was all home again, including the five boys who had served overseas.

Shortly after Arthur passed away, Lucille sold out in Leoville and bought a house in New Westminister. She lived to 79 years of age and is buried in New Westminister, where she had lived for many years.

Arthur L'Heureux