Claire Sigouin lost her election, but it would take more to bend the spine of this centenarian who was born under the Liberal government of Lomer Gouin (1905-1920). “Once in power, they are all the same. As long as it enriches parties, as well as it goes to young people, ”thinks this little bit of energetic 107-year-old woman, born during the First World War. Claire won the right to vote at age 25, in 1940, and voted QS on Monday.
Native of Plateau-Mont-Royal, Claire came to the family chalet in Bois-des-Filion during the holidays, with her two brothers and her sister. They were going by canoe to take a dip at Plage-Idéale, in the Rivière des Mille-Îles, north of Laval. “We could swim in that time, the river was not polluted”. It was here, near the banks, that she took up residence full-time in 1964 with her sister Aurore, who died at 92. And it is here that she still lives alone today, in the old chalet of her youth, 90 years later. We don’t uproot old lilacs, at worst, we bury them: “I’m not going to residency. As long as I can, I will stay here. »
Claire returned the keys to her Honda at age 104; she walks without a cane and straight as an i. She doesn’t dream of death either. What’s the point ? “In time as in time! I have other things to think about. I had a heart attack in 2019, and I didn’t reapply for my driver’s license after that. I had never been to the hospital before, and they found me a lot of diseases! she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes and a tone of reproach. She had never taken any medication before this stay. “I don’t deprive myself of butter. It doesn’t kill. Worse I always salted, even before tasting! »
Every morning, after breakfast, in a small glass, I just take a little drop of brandy. Just a few drops. I don’t have the energy of a 20-year-old anymore, so I take a little brandy, it warms the stomach, it helps digestion, and at the same time, it burns the germs.
She manages for her daily life by having the local fruit store delivered and with the help of a niece. Claire has no more brothers or sisters, no more friends of her age, no more witnesses to her past century, only black and white photos and all her memories in color, the voices of Duplessis and La Bolduc at the radio. “When we arrived here, there was no electricity in the street, and there were 14 of us on the same telephone line. Our number was 612-ring 2-4, two small rings, four large. It was listening on the line! »
The suitors had to call often?
“I liked them better as friends than as husbands. In those days, you married for life. You have to be in love…” Claire preferred to teach sewing for the Singer company and keep her freedom as a bachelor. She has done Sainte-Catherine’s hair for a long time. “Worse when you have children, it’s worrying! And plenty of knees to patch and stockings to darn.
Justine and Claire
Photographer Justine Latour, 37, met Claire seven years ago to document the book To be a hundred years old, written by his sister Marie-Noëlle Blais. The old and the young have forged ties that last. Justine comes to visit her with her six-year-old son several times a year and calls her often, especially when there are heat waves or very cold weather. “I like it, chatting with her,” said the young woman. “She’s inspiring, rebellious and she gets the point. »
Justine even had an exhibition of old and recent photos at the Bonsecours market with her old accomplice: “I never tire of her stories, she remembers everything! If it is not heard and repeated, it is lost. This is an important legacy! History is made of everything we can tell each other. »
You can feel the young woman’s real admiration for this adopted grandmother who survived two wars, rationing, the Great Depression, direct relief, the Spanish flu, the dictatorship of priests and nuns, the October crisis, out of order.
One of the privileges of old age is to have, in addition to one’s age, all ages
“Tell how you were consecrated, Claire! “His old friend, still lively, does not need to be asked: “I had the Spanish flu in 1918 and I slept for three weeks. On Saturday, my mother was in despair, she promised the Blessed Virgin that she would dress me in pale blue — the color of the Virgin — until I was 7 if she saved me. On Monday morning, I woke up. We said we had been consecrated. And she wore blue for a long time…
“I love this story. This memory must be seized before it is lost. We don’t listen to the elders,” laments Justine.
Too eager that we are to ride behind progress, we forget what other generations have experienced as hardships before us. A COVID pandemic is small beer for Claire: “We get used to it. Do not complain. There are those who complain for nothing ”, notes the lady who had to give up her pétanque twice a week, the 500 and the Whist because of the virus, but who puts on a finger of brandy every morning to kill the germs.
penny cigarette
In the course of the conversation, Justine learns that her friend smoked like a firefighter until 1939.
— I lit my cigarette with the one I put out. I quit at 24. The pack of ten cost ten cents.
– Faque, it chainsmokait worse I did not know that!
– I was not smoking on an empty stomach. I had lunch before. Everyone smoked in those days!
Justine insists that Claire tell the story of her brother during the conscription. “My brother stayed here in the house during the Second World War. The farmers had the right. My mother said she needed him to take care of the chicken coop. We had only one hen… You know, they would come to people’s houses in the middle of the night to come and get the men who were hiding. »
Claire is worried about our sons, mine and Justine’s, in the event of an armed conflict. “You have boys…”
But she immediately turns to the autumn light, unable to ruminate for long. “It can always be worse. Poor Ukrainians. We can’t complain…”
And a third war, Claire, do you think about it?
” Oh ! With nuclear, it won’t last long. »
This is called relativization. And sometimes it takes 107 years to get there.