Eva (Ruest) St. Pierre recently celebrated her 95th birthday at the French Canadian Club surrounded by her family and many friends. Eva was born in St. Anaclet, Quebec in the year of 1919; just a mere six weeks before Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born in Montreal, Quebec on October 18, 1919. 1919 was also the same year that Canada's first francophone Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier passed away. Eva never became a candidate for Prime Minister of Canada, (probably because she never thought about it) however after meeting her and talking with her I know for a fact that she has the tenacity to accomplish any dream, plan or idea that comes into her head.
Eva grew up and was educated in Quebec speaking only her native language of French. Her four children likewise followed.
Eva married her neighbor Louis Rigobert St. Pierre in 1949 and together they raised four children. The years went by and the young family headed west and eventually ended up in Giscome in the year of 1965. When the sawmill closed they moved to Willow River where Louis built the family home and worked as a millwright. Eva worked as a camp cook, kept the home and garden and looked after the family. The children attended school in Giscome and Blackburn.
It was a tough transition moving from Quebec to British Columbia for the French speaking family. Louis learned a bit of English when he served in the army but basically none of them spoke English. Eva said, "It was hard on all of us. The kids soon started to learn English in school but tended to speak French at home. My husband learned more English at work and then there was me. A friend of mine had an old French-English dictionary that she was ready to throw out. It had no value any more for her but I immediately saw value in that old book and soon I owned it. I learned my English, proper pronunciation and correct spelling of words from that book! That little book became my best friend and my only teacher."
In 1975 and after 26 years of marriage Eva's husband passed away on Boxing Day due to a heart attack. She moved to Prince George in 1999.
Eva told me that one day, several years after her husband passed away, she decided that she was low on fire wood and that she needed to correct the situation. Without a word to her family or neighbors she loaded the chain saw in the truck and headed to what was known as the community pasture to get a load of firewood. Single handedly she fell a birch tree, cut it up and loaded it all in her truck and took it home. I laughed out loud when she told me about the fallout that followed from both her family and neighbors when she got home with her load of wood. She said that secretly she didn't care because she just wanted to see if she could do it. She was trained by the best. Over the years her husband had taught her as they worked together every fall gathering the fire wood to heat their family home.
Eva was pretty busy the day that I spoke to her to get this story. Even though she was busy (at 95 years of age) moving nine heavy planters off of her balcony and into her apartment so that her landlord could wash the windows, she still took the time to talk to me. In other words she had to move her entire garden consisting of huge planters of potatoes, carrots, beans, beets, herbs, tomatoes and hanging flower baskets. She said that she had to use a small ladder (she lives on the eighth floor) to get at the hanging baskets!
Eva has tenacity like you have never seen. She still washes her floors on her hands and knees because she says, "The mop does not do a thorough enough job because it does not get into the corners!"
She watches very little TV because she says she does not like to waste time. She said, "I watch the Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and then I close down the TV and I pick up my knitting or I read. I have to keep busy so that I stay out of trouble. I belong to the French Canadian Club and the Catholic Women's League and I love them both. I am not rich and I am not dead yet either. I live on my pension and I am happy to stay alive and help other people. I beat breast cancer and I have trouble with my knees and one shoulder but I intend to take care of myself and live to be 100."
