CALEB NICKERSON
OTTER LAKE
Oct. 18, 2019
For most people, hitting the 50th anniversary milestone is cause . . .
for celebration.
It will be no surprise that the Otter Lake RA Hall was buzzing on Saturday night as family and friends came together to mark not one, but four half-century marriages under one roof.
The four couples in question: Fidel and Louise St-Aubin, Floriant and Madeleine St-Aubin, Réjean and Gisèle Laprise, and Michel and Alvine St-Aubin, are relatives and grew up in Otter Lake together. They all got hitched that fateful summer in 1969 and went on to raise families as far afield as southern Ontario.
Organizer Pierre St-Aubin, the son of Michel and Alvine, was the oldest of the four couples’ children, and said he had a difficult time keeping the party a secret from the honourees.
“It’s been one heck of a thing to pull the wool over their eyes,” he said. “They all live in the community and everybody knows them.”
He went into further detail about how they were nearly exposed in a followup email.
“On the day of, the adult children had to twist a few arms to ensure all four couples would attend and be driven to the hall by 7:30,” he wrote. “The closest call was thanks to my dad Michel (aka detective Columbo) who can’t accept an unsolved mystery. He went to the town council who administer hall rentals, and insisted on knowing who rented the hall that night. The young lady was a little intimidated by the relentless old tax payer, and gave up the goods. She had to tell him that my cousin Lise had reserved the hall, but Michel still did not know what for.”
“Others tried to find out by approaching the firefighters association, who were tending bar on the event in question. They remained silent in the face of peer pressure,” he continued. “While there were some suspicions, they really only found out once they were all gathered outside the hall.”
Traditional country music was provided by Greenwood, out of Pembroke.
“For a lot of that generation, it’s their favourite band,” Pierre said, estimating that they would have about 200 people in attendance.
When asked for their secret to a long marriage, each couple had a different response.
“Never go to bed angry, you’ve got to be tough,” said Louise. “When you live with a joker, there’s a great difference.”
“We need to communicate all the time,” explained Madeleine. “Good or bad, we need to communicate.”
Gisèle said that it was the trust and honesty that she and Réjean shared. When asked why he remained committed after five decades, Réjean was quick with a joke.
“I guess I had to,” he chuckled “Just kidding.”
“Love,” Michel answered simply when asked his secret to a lasting marraige. “What can you say?”
