My Tante Sylvia has died after a short battle with cancer. Living overseas, one misses the reunions with family in Paquetville that so make outliving such amazing relatives a little more understandable. I miss the funerals as well as the marriages and baptisms. This one was a surprise because she did not drink or smoke and she was so young.
Mrs. Sylvia Theriault was an Acadian farmer's wife. She lived with her husband, Oncle Donald about seven or eight houses down from my grandparents. She was a former school teacher at Village Acadien near Grande Anse. She helped teach me my multiplication tables. She was a cheerful and robust tante with five grown children and several grandchildren. She was a very loving person. I will always miss Tante Syliva.
She was young. Every Acadien relative who dies before me reminds me of what they have taught me about that part of me which is Acadien and that part of me which is most Canadian:
"We are no longer exiles. If we can today make that assertion with our head held high, without fear of anyone, we owe it to those who lived through... It is a tribute we are paying our ancestors, to say how proud we are of what they were able to preserve, of this priceless heritage they have left us, which is called dignity. "
(About Acadia, Village Historique Acadien)
http://www.villagehistoriqueacadien.com/aboutacadia.htm
Tante Syliva helped preserve my dignity in a world which often overlooks humanity as its first common cause. She helped teach me a depth of faith and respect for the cultural values and beliefs of these ancestors. Freedom does not have a price or an allegiance.
And as for my dear Grandpere Albert Theriault, when visiting Tant Sylvia at Village Acadien, he would always come with us, but always a little unwillingly. His memories were mixed. He would say, "I hate going to that place. You know it was hard work."
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