As We Remember featuring Alec LaRocque

This project is made possible by a grant from The U.S Institute of Museum and Library services.

[Music]

[Debbie Chook] Welcome to this edition of the weekly program As We Remember [Ay-shi-kish-kish-shi-yauhk; Ee-shi-kishkishkshiyahk] 88.5 FM KEYA in Belcourt, 00:01:00North Dakota. Eliza Keplin will be with you in just a moment to begin our program with a lesson in the Michif language, followed by our weekly visit with a member of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa.

[Music]

[Michif][Hello.]

[Debbie Chook] This week's lesson in the Michif language will be a repeat of a previous lesson with Mrs. Margaret LaRocque.

[Michif][Okay, well, we will start. And, um, a lesson, I think that is what it is called--]

--something to learn. In Cree, that's Cree.

[Michif][A lesson.]

And uh, and so, I'm going to name the objects in English and Margaret's going to name them in Cree or French. Mostly French, I think they are [anyway]. Uh-huh, we'll start--

[Michif][...with--]

Uh, table.

[Michif][Table.]

Ah, ah, ch-chair.

[Michif][Chair.]

And anything that's close to me here, uhm, cup.

[Michif][Cup.]

And what is inside?

[Michif][Here, there is tea inside.]

So you know, we'll say that, but uh--

Well tea and--

Yeah.

tea and-- the tea.

Okay [and] sugar.

[Michif][Sugar.]

[Uh,] what do you call the container?

[Michif][Sugar--]

No.

I don't even know myself.

[Laughter]

[Michif][Sugar-- a sugar --]

[Michif][A sugar bowl!]

[Michif][A sugar bowl!]

That's right!

Ok.

[Michif][Sugar bowl. Oh well, a sugar bowl--]

--has a cover.

[Michif][A cover.]

[Michif][A cover, okay.]

And then, um, let me see, uhm, uh-- close to me sitting, a girl.

[Michif][A girl, a little girl, a pretty little girl.]

[Michif][Over this way, a young--]

Oh, a young lady over here.

[Michif][A young lady.]

[Michif][A young lady, ahaw.]

Let's see, uh, a lamp.

[Michif][A lamp.]

Yeah. Right, that's good.

[Michif][And--]

Uh, there is a jacket.

[Michif][A coat.]

Another name is--

[Michif][A jacket.]

Very good. [Um, there's no Michif] name in radio, [just English.]

[Laughter]

And behind you is a cupboard. Starts with--

[Michif][A cupboard!]

Yes.

[Michif][In unison][A cupboard!]

[Michif][A cupboard.]

Yeah.

[Michif][Okay--]

--dishes inside of this cupboard.

[Michif][Dishes.]

Uh-huh, uh, there are, uh --

[Background noises: TV or radio playing]

Oh, something you make tea in, I think.

[Michif][A tea-- A teapot!]

[Translator's note: interviewee responded with the word for teapot not the word for kettle]

Uh, well uh, door of the cupboard then. The door.

[Michif][A door.]

[Michif][Yes.]

Just like the door [that] we came in, huh? And uh, let's see [uh], what we're looking out.

[Michif][A window.]

And [uh], those hanging down there, curtains?

[Michif][The curt--]

Yeah, you just about [said] it. You just [about said it].

[Transcriber's note: interviewee mispronounces the word "curtain" in Michif.]

No?

[Laughter]

[Michif][Curtains, curtains, curtains.]

[Michif][In unison][Curtains!]

Yes.

[Michif][And...]

Now what-- we're looking o-out of this window and we see out there, trees.

[Michif][Trees.]

Okay. We also see hills.

[Michif][Hills.]

And we see a whole lot of white stuff we call snow.

[Michif][Snow.]

Uh-huh. And uh, I see that uh, a lot of work has been done. You seem to have had much more snow than we did, eh?

[Laughter]

Yeah. I think so.

[Laughter]

[Michif][Lots of snow!]

So, they opened up t-the, uh, the road.

[Michif][Road.]

[Michif][The road.]

Yep. They plowed all that snow there, made a nice big pile. And the sky is beautiful now, this evening. [It's] getting to be evening now, and--

[Michif][The sky.]

Okay. And the color there, [of] there-- the sky, is red.

[Michif][Red.]

And I believe I see a little tinge of--

[Michif][...green--]

--there, a little bit? I [don't know, maybe it's my eyesight].

Green!

Okay, uh where is-- the sun is beyond th-the-- already?

[Michif][The sun went down!]

[Michif][Already!]

[Laughter]

[Michif][The sun went down already. Well then, we will [?]]

[And] if I stand up, I can look at myself in the mirror.

[Michif][Mirror.]

Uh-huh. Oh, uh--

[Michif][Here, you're cooking here--]

--on the stove.

Oy-yoy-yoy, uh...

[Michif][...heater.]

[Uh.]

No.

[Michif][A hea--...]

--not--

[Michif][...a heater--]

--over there.

[Michif][A hea--]

That's a heater. That's a--

[Michif][...heater.]

Okay, that's good but we'll name the parts of this--

[Michif][...hea-hea-heater.]

[Laughter]

--uh, the chimney's there.

[Michif][Chimney.]

[Michif][The chimney. The heater's chimney]

Okay, uh, how about [uh, let's] come back [to] this, uh--

[Michif][...the stove here.]

[Michif][The (kitchen) stove/cooker.]

[Ah ya!]

[Michif][The (kitchen) stove/cooker.]

Okay, [uh,] the oven door.

Ehhh.

[Or] the oven itself?

-- Ah.

[Michif][The oven. The oven.]

Yeah.

[Michif][The oven.]

Okay. [Uh, on top of] there, there is a big pot, [you] call a cooking pot.

[Another person in the room whispers kettle.]

[Michif][A cooking pot/cauldron.]

[Michif][A cooking pot/cauldron.]

Very good!

[Laughter]

[I was] trying to think of it myself. [I don't know if I would've remembered it.]

[Laughter]

[Michif][A cooking pot/cauldron.]

How about [uh, where you boil water-- to make your tea or something]?

[Michif][A teapot, [uh]--a kettle!]

[The water, ya, that's a tea kettle]. Yeah. Okay. [How about] teapot?

[Michif][A teapot.]

[I think you said that already eh?]

[Yeah, I think so.]

[Yeah, Okay, uh] the clock.

[Michif][A clock.]

[Michif][Clock.]

Uh-huh, okay.

[Michif][okay, thank you...]

--is a book.

[Michif][A book.]

[Uh-huh.]

[Michif][And tablet?]

Tablet.

[Laughter]

Thank you.

[Laughter]

I don't know.

[Michif][When--]

[...the teacher, is the time up now?]

[Laughter]

[It must be!]

[Laughter]

[It must be up now.]

[Laughter]

[Michif][How are you all Métis people all over that are listening, and we'll visit with Alec, Alec Larocque. And so, Alec, tell us your name, who was your 00:09:00dad, your mother, your grandfather, your grandmother, grandmothers.]

You understand all that, huh? And uh, talk about anything you remember about your grandparents.

[Michif][Tell us how old they were when they died and what they died from.]

All that okay? Then we'll-- then we'll start with that I guess. This is Alec LaRocque. Okay Alec.

Ya. I'm Alec LaRocque. I was born 1918 in the 29th of July. And then, of course, I grew up, went School. Johnson School. We'd walk back and forth a mile and a 00:10:00half, back and forth. We had summer school, that started the first week of April. Ended the last week of October, if I remember right now. We walked to school all summer. Barefooted all summer. We didn't need no shoes.

Yeah, the weather was good.

Yeah.

[Michif][It must have been a lot of fun in the mud.]

Oh! I guess!

[Laughter]

Yeah. We sure enjoyed that rain, when it rained.

Uh-huh.

We'd step on them lizards.

Oh-ho-ho!

[Laughter]

Running, running to school [?]

[Laughter]

But a snake, oh no, oh [?]

Me too.

[Michif][I had a hard time, it wasn't like today. How many miles was that when you guys ran to school?]

[Michif][A mile and a half.]

[Michif][A mile and a half.]

Yep. Really by right by a mile, six-tenths.

Mhm.

Six-tenths, just like [that.]

Better than uh--

Mile and a half.

Yeah.

Yep. We used we used to get ten cents a day going to school.

They paid you ten cents a day.

Towards the last, ya.

Towards the last----

[Michif][...you guys were paid ten cents a day?]

Yeah.

And--

So anyhow, I went to school there and then went to school in Fort Totten one winter. You was there then. And uh, [Cecille?] ya.

Cecille, ya and [Mary.]

I don't remember Mary there. But any how. There's quite a few from [Belcourt and Fort Totten] School. Then we come home from there and I went working out there. That was the last time I went to school.

[Michif][You didn't go to school long.]

No, 7th grade.

[Michif][You finished in the 7th grade.]

Okay.

7th grade. So I work for the farmers all around here. And all [these frenchmens].

Mhm.

I worked for Simon [Rainier]. I work for ah [Ed Boucher], Old Ed [Boucher], Warren Thomas. Um, [?] Erwin [Charette?] Uh, oh boy, [Albert Boucher], I worked for Albert [Boucher] a long time, man, there's a nice person there, and uh--

[Michif][Good people those people were--]

Yep! Everyone of them were gone. Dennis Greene. That's all gone?]

[Michif][Their children lives there in their place--]

[Michif][Thier son is a worker there.]

Mhm.

[Michif][The youngest one--]

--he's there yet, otherwise, uh--

[Talking in the background]

[Michif][This is a long time ago.]

Yeah, yeah.

Mhm.

So then after I went to work on construction. Well, I went to work on WP.

Oh yeah.

I got married in 1940.

Same time as Margaret.

[Laughter]

Same time as Margaret!

[Laughter]

[Margaret Larocque] I wonder why--

[Laughter]

I wonder why.

Anyhow -- I worked on WPA that Friday, that Saturday dad brought me to uh, Rolla. He said "We'll go to Rolla today." "What for?" I told him. "I'm buying you a suit." "Oh, I got a new pair of overalls!" I say. "You can't get married in a pair of overalls!

[Michif][Overalls[?]]

[Laughter]

[Michif][Overalls[?]]

So, well, we went and bought me a suit. So anyway, and then-- I was as on the-- 00:14:00w-what day was that we got married on, Thursday?

[Margaret Larocque][On a Tuesday.]

On a Tuesday. Anyway Sunday, we went around and invites people and uh--

Uh-huh.

M-monday.

[Whispering in the background]

We took off, her and I went and invited people towards, uh, the tower over there like, below us--

Mhm.

And we was coming by King Davis where he lives right now.

Mhm.

We was coming -- I had a 30's Chevy there. I was coming pretty good speed. With a bunch of horses on the road.

[Ay-yoy-yoy.]

And it's uh, dark. I start dodging through the--

Trying to miss the horses.

Tryin' to miss the horses. I hit one, and one of his hind hoof hit the windshield. He come right straight the windshield, didn't break the windshield though. Down the ditch he went. Holy cripes we got scared, especially her.

Mhm.

So and then we was coming then. I was driving slower now. And uh, right by where Andre LaFontaine used to live there by that well, there.

Mhm.

Right there, a bunch of cattle right on top the road there. Holy fright! I start dodging around again!

[Michif][That same thing again.]

Yeah, and uh, finally, I crowd way to one side, here the Henry girls, Emma and another one.

They lived by there.

Yeah. And I was -- "Push over!" I told them, you know, get off the road you know. Them cattle were all over here. So I dodged them anyway. Cripe man, now we 00:16:00were scared. So anyway, we come in uh, just when we get to Azure Crossing there ,where Azure's store is now, right there's a stop sign, I seen that up and I slammed the brakes on everything--

[Laughter]

...that horse was something [?] does that sign.

[Laughter]

Was that the day you got married, you said?

No, no the day before.

No wonder! I was going to say!

No, on Sunday. This was on a Sunday.

[Laughter]

When she got home [?] "Boy," she says, "Am I glad I'm home."

[Laughter]

I suppose, eh?

[Margaret Larocque][I should have changed my mind then.]

[Laughter]

Boy, I thought-- I said "Don't feel bad."

[Laughter]

You don't know how I feel, eh?

So I went home. So anyway then. Did we go to church to practice that Monday night, do you remember? Or did we?

[Margaret Larocque][No, we had before that.]

We had already?

[Margaret Larocque][Yeah.]

So anyway, I went to work on WPA.

[Margaret Larocque][That was our honeymoon.]

The next-- the next-- the next day, on Tuesday we got married. This-- on Monday I went to work.

Mhm.

Then uh, tomorrow's the wedding. We got married the next day on Tuesday. The next morning I went to work on WPA again.

[Michif][Again.]

Yeah. Yeah.

Oh yeah! You had to get right at it.

[Laughter]

Yeah.

You had a wife to feed and take care of and children coming-- you want to be coming pretty soon.

I was working on WPA there before-- before the wedding.

Mhm.

And uh, Albert Poitra I used to go around with him a lot.

I don't know if I should dare ask you for--

You just go ahead. And uh..

[Michif][--well [?]]

I had to order a ring. And she told me the size and of course-- hardly any money that time. That WPA; 42 a month.

Sure, mhm.

So I-I-I don't know if I even showed them the catalog or w-wedding thing or what. But anyway, there was three dollars and some cents. Says "Oh!" Albert and I, we walk to the right in front [Bruno Moines?], there was working on the road there. Him, he was staying further back you know. There was a mail box there and uh, I think a Decoteau was staying there. So I uh, put the order in there. And uh, and the money.

And the money?

Yeah, and then uh, I got the uh, the receipt on the mail, from the mailman in our box.

Mhm.

So anyhow, that was a high price ring.

[Chuckles]

[Michif][Me too.]

She's still got it!

[Michif][well as for me, my [?], they lost it.]

Oh! Yeah, she's still got it. And boy it's, it's slim now.

[Laughter]

Have to look at it after.

Yeah. So anyhow. YEah we got married and then we stayed down at dad's and ma's there for a while. And we stayed -- oh crap --we moved so goldang many times. I don't-- I don't remember where we stayed, but, I think it was up there by, Louis Davis there?

[Michif][Around the-- a big lake there.]

Yeah. Yeah. It was there. So we lived all over! Then I work for [Elsie Martin] 00:20:00-- see I thought of his name right off the bat [?] over here -- And uh, take care of his cattle when he was gone to California here. I was kept milking cows in the wintertime. I'd bring the cream in creamery in Dunseith a-and they kept the checks there.

Uh-huh. That was a good life in those days, you know.

Yeah. So-- I don't even remember how much I got a month there, working there. But anyway we stayed in the basement. So-- and we had a model A, a good car, a good car. That thing would start with a crank, you know.

Crank it up and away--

Yeah, yeah we had--

You have to choke them a lot.

[Laughter]

Yeah, yeah!

[Laughter]

Choke 'em eh?

So then we used to had that little radio, little [motorola]. That was a good little radio. We'd listen to ghost stories on Sunday. Sunday night.

[Laughs]

Then I forget the name of that, that story. Something about, uh, the howling owl, or uh, wolf? Or what was that my dear--

[Margaret Larocque][Devil dogs.]

Devil dogs!

[Laughter]

[Michif][Oh lord!]

[Michif][Oh well--]

--it was howling there, you know. All at once the dogs on top the roof. That was-- there-- that house had burnt down, you see--

Yeah.

--they were staying in the basement they had put a flat roof on there. The dogs there-- they stay they sleep on the roof. Awooo!

[Laughter]

The dogs on there! She got scared!

[Laughter]

Dogs on there--

[Laughter]

So I went out there and hollered at the dogs and I come back down and I was laughing. So anyway, we was listening I took hold of my shoe right here and I threw it right by her feet.

[Slapping noise]

Jiminy Crackers, she jumped. She got mad at me!

[Laughter]

[Michif][You scared her?]

Yeah, I guess.

[Laughs]

Yeah. So anyway -- ah, we got out there that spring. They got back kind of early. In our house-- nobody in there all winter.

Mhm.

Boy, that's going to be a cold one. And who's talking about that at Pigeon store. That Old Lady Pigeon says, "Why don't you move in at Old [Charbonneau's?] They got-- they got a little house there." [Les Charbonneau?] You remember him?

[Mhm, mhm.]

Just n-northwest of Pigeons--

[Mhm.]

So we went seen that, yeah! It was warm in there, you know. And-- so I went back and, her and I, we got that cook stove off the-- the basement there. And I put two posts -- fence posts -- under the spring, under the motor, stick him on the 00:23:00[?] We loaded that cook stove on there, her and I.

Mhm.

Yep I don't know how in the world we ever done it.

Mhm.

So we drove up to this place there and I would have brought the stove in and then made a fire. Eh! It was nice and warm, holy geez, we sure liked it. So anyway, I said "I'm going to bed. I'm tired." "Yeah" I says. So I undressed and I sat down. Holy--

[Michif][...red fleas!]

[Laughter]

Oh! Jiminy Crackers! I [wrapped] myself good and everything and I crawled under the blankets.

Mhm.

I bet I never slept all night.

[Michif][Well, well, well, red fleas, red fleas.]

I said "We are getting the heck out of here."

Yeah, sure.

So I didn't make fire in the cook stove. We took our cook stove out.

On the bumpers, again, we loaded that Model A on top of the roof and, and uh inside. We didn't have [no] kids yet eh?

[Margaret Larocque][No.]

So anyway--

You were lucky you didn't have children--

At 7 o'clock. We pulled up my dad's, place.

[Margaret Larocque][Yeah, we had two kids!]

Oh.

We had two?

[Margaret Larocque][Yeah.]

And uh, and he knew that w-we found that place there, w-we were moving there.

Mhm.

A warm place.

[Laughs]

[Michif]["What's the matter?"]

He says "What's the matter?"

[Michif][Red fleas!]

I told him!

[Margaret Larocque][He burst out laughing.]

I never seen so many fleas in all my life.

It's funny those days there were many, eh?

Yep. So anyway, uh, we can bring nothing in the house. So, me, I went up-- made [fire] in our house there. I made a good fire. Heck! It was warm. I stayed out there for a couple of hours, an hour. So then I come back, and uh, we had the heater in there yet. Come back, then I-I was nice and warm. "It's warm." I said to dad, "It's warm." Okay, so I'm going to help you unload your stove there. So we brought the stove in. [Yup,] and then that's when we burn down there too.

Oh, yeah, you burnt down, eh?

[Yeah.] Lost 3 kids there.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I forgot that.

Yeah.

[No,] I mean, I didn't [forgot it], but I, you know, I didn't know exactly what happened.

Yeah, I was making, uh, arms for an [overshot] hay stacker.

Mhm.

Put the hay on top. And then--

Yeah, uh-hunh.

One of them arms, that broke.

Yeah, yeah.

I was making one.

[Michif][shavings/sawdust--]

-- And uh, dummy here, I put too much in the stove, it blowed up. While I was gone--

Oh yeah--

[Michif][...shavings/sawdust--.]

--they burn just like paper almost, [huh]?

Yup. And she come with a pail of water-- to get a pail of water.

Mhm.

And me, when I got through milking I grabbed the pails and I went-- I went to the-- towards the house. Why geez, you're a heck of a one to walk with. I don't know uh-- hurry up. When I got in the open house was all on fire.

Already eh?

Yep.

[Mhm.] That's where the kids were though, [huh]?

I got one out. Then I was going back in after another one, [Walter Dubois] happening-- was going come, stopped there.

Stopped you.

He grabbed me by my feet and he jerked me out of there.

Mhm, no, you shouldn't have gone and get the kids, [huh?]

Well, no, I [hadda] got one more out, but they were dead already.

Mhm. Yeah, the smoke. Mhm, It's a sad thing.

So-- so then after that I worked on the railroad, a couple of years. [And] boy..

[Michif][...snakes...]

--and I hate that. Those dang snakes. Boy I'd make some kind of a jump scare and they'd laugh at me.

[Laughs]

On the railroad only though?

Mhm. And then ah, bees.

Oh.

Bzzzz. Oh, ho!

[Alec claps]

[?] with graces. Old Dodgy and I.

Uh-hunh.

We's pulling ties. And uh, so we carried some oil along.

That kills them, eh?

Well uh, they can't fly then.

Oh.

[Michif][Yes. Ah huh--]

So anyway-- then they lift the, the, the, the tracks. The railroad track.

Yeah.

Then Paul and I was behind and we had these tongs and pulled the tie from under there.

Yeah.

The rotten tie.

Mhm.

So we-- we do that day after day, him and I. So anyway, "boy some of these ties are hard." I says. "Ya." He says, so-- and then I grabbed-- we both grab the tongs he and then when we pull hard.

[Pull] together.

Yeah. So anyway, [I was making him pull] again. Boy, he was pulling. "Boy, I said this, is ever a tough one." "Ya." He says "Boy that's a tough [one] huh?"

[Laughter]

He's playing a trick on you.

Every once in a while I do that to him, you know.

[Laughs]

By golly [I thought, I'm] going to check this guy.

There's something wrong here.

[Laughs]

Not-- not-- okay.

[Laughs]

Neither one of us was pulling!

[Laughter]

I didn't know he wasn't pulling you little bugger. About quarter of a mile I 00:29:00pulled all that time by myself.

[Laughter]

I laughed, I laughed.

Kind of put and end to that trick, eh?

Yeah! He played tricks, that son of a gun.

Mmm.

[Sips drink]

Yeah.

[Laughs]

Yeah. I had a lot of fun working out anyways with--

Even if it was hard work still you had, you did your tricks and you had your fun time.

[Michif][And the Tenancourts.]

He was a widower, you remember him?

UYeah, I remember [Joe Tenancourt] You know how I remember him? We used to have dances. We lived there-- the, the Old [Frank Lance's] place.

Oh yeah.

[Michif][And that big house there.]

Mhm.

[Michif][And we used to have dances. My late uncle, Ambroise Nadeau--]

--that was his friend.

Oh yeah.

[Michif][When he got there he used to bring oranges, apples, and so on.]

[Michif][Well, anyways.]

He used to bring!

[Laughs]

Yeah. So anyway. Well we didn't have much to do there, that-- the gravel pit, the railroad gravel pit east of the elevators in Dunseith and there was cattle 00:30:00around 'there--

[Eliza whisper] Is that yours?

[Michif][Transcribers note: cannot discern due to whispering]

[Michif][No matter, no matter, no matter!]

So anyway, them cows had pies there.

Mhm.

[And uh, boy, there's some big ones.]

[Laughter]

I says to Paul, I says, "Talk to old Joe" I says. "Talk about [?]" I says.

Mhm.

I says "I'll pick this up with the scoop shovel and I'll put it behind him." I says. "Then I'll get out of there." I says. "And then you, you crowd him, a little bit." I said "You backup." He says. Sure enough he did. Right over top of his shoes!

[Laughs]

[Margaret Larocque][No you didn't!]

[Laughter]

"Good job, Joe!" He says.

[Michif][I [?]]

I says "You done that purposely to me." "No, no!" He says. Then he looked, "It's not him." He says. He said he's over there all the time--

[Laughter]

Sure, he's over there.

[Laughter]

Ah boy, we laughed, we laughed and we laughed--

You played tricks on each other eh?

Yup!

Mhm.

So then from there on then I worked for the highway, then. Yeah, on the highway--

[Michif][Where is that?]

Oh, let's see, the first time on the highway was uh-- gee, I don't remember. I think it was Anamooseover there.

Anamoose

Yeah. South here.

Yeah.

Then from there I went to Newhall. An uh, uhm, Loma, that's out there by Langdon. Seems I moved around here some place. I forget, but I was-- I worked quite a few years on the highway.

Mhm.

Worked for [McGare Brothers?].

You don't remember if you work on #5 here?

No, Isador did.

[Oh, Isador] did.

[Isador] he went to sleep on his tractor, he was pulling the packer to pack.

Uh-huh.

You know?

Uh-huh.

[Uh-hunh, uh-hunh.]

The blade had stopped.

[Alec claps hands together]

He run into the blade.

[Laughing]

And boy, he jumped up, I mean-- oh, killed his motor.

[Michif][...of course.]

Hit that blade.

[Laughter]

He had fallen asleep.

Yeah, and that guy in the blade, never felt nothing. You never know--

He never knew.

[Laughing]

Well they're big, them things.

Yeah, and they're so heavy.

[Ah cripe] I laughed when [Isador] told me that. Yep, so after that then, I worked at the Garrison Dam. I worked there two or three years I guess.

[Michif][Did you work, you, with [the late[?]] Fred, when he worked, did you work there at the same time?]

Fred?

[Michif][[The late[?]] Fred.]

I--

What year did you work out there?

Eh, boy, I was working at the big dam, I work at Snake Creek.

[Margaret Larocque] In the 50s.

In the 50's.

In the 50's, yeah.

[Michif][The twins...]

--that's when they were born in it, in the 50's. We were out there.

[Oh?]

Yeah.

We stayed in Underwood.

Underwood?

Yeah.

We were in uh-- we were Underwood for a while.

[Michif][After we moved away from there...]

--we went further in, you know.

Oh, I see.

Mhm.

Yeah, so I work for [Lyle and Green] there. Are you-- when you go to the-- from 00:34:00Minot to Bismarck--

Mhm.

--you cross that, uh--

Yeah.

[Michif][That little place there.]

Yeah yeah, that's where I work.

Yeah. I always think of that, I remember that, you know. We lived there for a while and president--

[Michif][Um--]

Eisenhower.

[Michif][I think it was--]

--at that time--

[Michif][...I think it was that one [Eisenhower]--]

--[before they came,] you know?

Yeah, so -- Yeah, I work there. Then went to work at the big dam 'cus [?] every night. Oh no. From there, when we got through, I went to work at Jamestown there. Yeah, I work two summers there, then I was done. Then I was uh-- what was I going to say again now? I went to work on uh-- for Bo's Construction, there. On the highway again. So anyway, from there I went to work [?] here in the gravel pit that was running [caterpillar?] there.

Oh, right here.

And uh, I worked for Lawrence Berube first, couple years. Then, gone.

[Michif][This is how you work, hey?]

Yeah.

[Michif][All over.]

So-- and then after that, then they hired people-- brush game. Well, I thought I 00:35:00was going to draw unemployment there. No, they come and ask me, we got your name down to-- for brush game. I couldn't refuse, ha ha!

Oh, yeah.

To go to work.

[Chuckles]

Oh, did we eat frozen lunch and what now.

Used to walk miles I suppose to go-- to get to your job.

It wasn't too bad. Leap over here.

Yeah.

Well, I walk as far uh, [?] used to stay there, you know, Oscar?

[Michif][Oh yes, Oscar. That place is far--]

--next to our line, there.

One week we worked there. I, were-- walked from Mellum's, you know, we used to stay there?

Uh-huh.

That's where I'd walk right there.

Quite a walk. Well they used to and-- you know to go out there to work and walk!

Yeah, seven, eight miles. That's nothing.

Mhm.

I'd walk from home to the sanatorium that was -- three, four, five -- a little better than five miles. But I'd cut across there. I know that country -- was born and raised there.

Mhm.

Yeah, I'd have a hell of a foot race, and I was afraid of bulls.

Mhm, yeah.

I'd see a cow come towards me--

[Laughter]

--and I could run.

[Michif][Mhm, you were still young at that time [?]]

[You were young!]

Yeah.

Mhm.

Yeah, I'd say two years ago, my grandkids, they walked right by me. Take me out for a race.

Mhm.

So-- I'd wait till I get on the level. I'd go at them. I'd pull away from them. They shake their head. Here last-- last year. Eh! They're taller than me now.

Mhm. They want to race with you.

I left them but by the time they passed me, I quit racing with him.

[Laughter]

Yeah, when I was small there, mama, one day she says uh, well uh, "We're gonna-- I'm gunna bring you to Catechism." Catechism?

What's that?

Yeah. T-talked nothing but French, dad, you know.

Yeah.

And mama, mama--

Uh-huh.

--talked but she never talked Cree to us neither. And uh, I learned quite a bit on the WPA regimine.

Oh yeah.

So anyway, Catechism. Go get the horse and hook them on the buggy. So Isadore and I went.

"What is that Catechism?" I says to Isadore. "I don't know." So anyways, we [were] going someplace, boy we were [?]

[Eliza chuckles]

Brought the horse Old Jim. That little bay we used to have there. [?] sold that horse. Mama says "C'mon." We had them little suits you buckle around your--

Mhm.

[Michif][...long black stockings.]

Mhm.

Shoes. Oh, going to Catechism, that sounds--

[What[?]]

I said "What is that, Catechism." I says now. "Ah!" She says, uh " We thought they-- we're teaching you your prayers." "Yeah." "That's the-- you will learn some more prayers there. You're going to learn about the church, the laws of the church, the priests--

Mhm.

--tell you everything." And he says "You learn about God there." Says "God made everything, made the world, the trees, everything you see, made yous."

Mhm.

Oh! "And--" He said "There's going to be a lot of kids there. And when the priest come and ask you, your name." He says, "I want you to tell your name out loud, no bashfulness." [He-- Isadore--]

[Michif][...was a cry baby.]

He was sitting ahead of me. Oh! Little girls on this side, little boys on this side. A lot of them! Oh we're gonna have some games. So anyways, pretty soon the priest come up to the altar over there and asked us all of our names, and he coaxed them and he barely heard them. He had that trouble all the way up. Well, Jiminy Crackers! I thought to myself, why can't they talk? Well, when they come and ask me my name. I'll tell him. You hear me. And Isadore, he-- the priest could see he was getting pretty red here. Hey, hey hey, I poked at him, don't cry. Pretty soon comes to Isadore -- Isadore is kind of, "There's a nice-looking boy!" He says. "What's your name?" Yeah, sure enough!

[Chuckles]

He starts crying.

He apologized to him and everything. Eh boy, he [?] cry. I was sittin' like this, got my arms folded up. So, anyway, he apologized to Isadore. So he looks at me, kind of looked at me. "I think here's a boy that's ready for anything." I thought to myself, you bet your life, you asked me my name. He says, "Who made the world?" "Alec Larocque!" I says.

[Laughter]

[Margret Larocque][Who made the world!]

He was saying to himself all the time, "I'll answer, I'll give him my name."

I'll give him mine--

[Laughter]

--in English.

[Laughter]

Alec Larocque.

Yeah, so, yeah I-- then I never went out to work after this brush. Then I got me some cattle. Then I rent this land here. Costs me 830 dollars a year. To get 00:41:00this here. So I-- I got 19 head of cattle.

Yeah, you got a big job here.

Ehh, well--

Keeps you going.

Yeah.

You need to get something, you know.

Yeah, but uh, I do my chores in a half hour. Yeah.

Mmm! That's stilll pretty good.

I feed outside.

Mhm.

My cows they come in September and October.

Oh, then you have all these young calves.

All these young calves. Then next fall, I sell them in the month of August. I had one--, one-- that one, he was a bull, that one. He weighed 960 pounds. Otherwise my steers [they] weighed from oh eight--, eight to-- up to 930 pounds.

Mhm, yeah.

Yeah, I get good for them.

Okay, now! Let's see. Y-you sure have a lot more to tell, I know. But maybe one day we'll do that again. To tell what you didn't tell. Uh, let's see, uh, I wanted to know now, your mother's name was Mary, uh--

[Enno.]

[Enno], yeah.

[Michif][And, these Ennos--]

--by Francis Davis's store there, and gas station. That's where they lived, uh? That was their land?

Right here?

[Michif][This way--]

Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh-hunh. Yeah.

Yeah. Francis Davis. That was uh, that's [?] there.

Mhm.

[That's Enno.]

Mhm.

And then that was in 80 acres. And then [right here--]

[Michif][...late grandpa--]

--80 acres.

Oh yeah--

[Michif][...your late grandpa--]

--his name was what?

[Uh, Antoine.]

[Antoine Enno]

[Yup.]

Mhmm.

And uh, then uh, [Louie Souris.]

Mhm.

Right there, where the kids were at.

All around here was all [Enno] land.

Yeah.

Did you get rid of any of it?

Uh-uh.

No, it's all in--, in Enno?

Yeah.

Oh, well, that's good.

But it's a tribal land now.

Oh, now it's tribal land.

They sold their lands to the tribe.

Okay. Mhm. But I remember that, that this was Enno's land. Yeah, and your uh, so your--

[Michif][...grandpa--]

--[Enno,] what-- what was his name? Your--

Antoine.

[Michif][His name was Antoine you say. Who was your grandmother?]

Selena.

Selena--

McKay.

McKay. What uh-- what-- was she Michif or French, what?

Yeah, yeah.

Michif she was, a McKay, huh?

Mhm.

[Michif][And--]

--do you know, uh--

[Michif][...your dad, what was his name?]

Patrice. Pat Larocque.

Pat Larocque, and then, uhm--

[Michif][And the Larocque's, these ones--]

--were they from around here or what?

Uh--, uh, no. My dad was born in St. Boniface.

Mhm.

Then he-- then they moved I guess to this state and a Walhalla there's a place they used to call the [Sanjou[?]] now, they're called it [Leroy] now.

Oh Leroy, now, eh?

Yeah.

[Sanjou[?]] That's where my dad was born.

Yeah, yeah.

Mhm.

So.

Yeah.

And uh, dad never did tell us the his mother's--

Name.

She was a [Bartelette[?]]

[B-Bartelette[?]]

[A Bartelette[?]]

Yeah, there used to be some [Bartelettes[?]] in Devils Lake.

And then, uh--

I went to school with some.

And his dad, I never knew his first name.

How old was your dad--

[Michif][...when he died?]

Seventy-eight or nine.

[Margret Larocque][One of the two.]

He was seventy-nine--

[Michif][...I think.]

You don't know what killed him, huh?

Uhm, prostate.

Oh, yeah.

[Michif][Mom then?]

That was long ago. Mama was living in [Dunseith]. Your mother was.

Yeah, yeah.

And she was how old then?

[Margaret Larocque][Eighty-two.]

Eighty-two.

Was she?

Mhm. Yeah, I remember she used to go visit mama there. Mama live in Dunsieth.

[Michif][Um--]

Let's see what else did I want to ask you. How much time do we have there?

[Debbie Chook] About uh, four minutes.

Uh, you play violin, but we couldn't play violin this winter, this Christmas, huh?

No, I didn't bring the--

We couldn't even go to the night mass this year. Too much of a big storm.

I couldn't even go to church the next day.

Yeah, well that's it, too much snow, huh? Such a big storm we had. You know, I don't remember ever having to miss midnight mass. Do you?

[Margret Larocque][That's the first time that I know of.]

Yeah, since we were married. Before, we didn't have midnight mass. You remember that?

[Michif][Father Roudot--]

...from Thorne. Never had mass all winter. You remember th-th-the finished inside the roof?

[Michif][I don't even remember.]

But I remember--

[Michif][...we lived with my mother--]

--by Long Lake --

[Oh!]

[Michif][...and we went--]

--to midnight mass. Four of us gone.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Now, you're you play violin, and you couldn't play violin this Christmas. I hope next Christmas we'll have better luck.

Mhm.

And uh, but you also played the piano, Alec.

Some.

In spite of all your busy work in your business you had some-- could you play a little tune now? I guess we don't have too much time, now.

But oh, you mean on--

On the piano.

And to tape it? I'm all out of practice.

[Michif][That's okay! Let it be.]

[Alec Plays Piano][Song: Silent Night]

[Alec laughs at wrong note being played]

[Continued: Alec Plays Piano][Song:Silent Night]

Oh, that was nice!

Oh, you sure caught me off guard.

Well that's alright, that was good. I know you could play, I heard you play before but--

Yeah.

[Alec Plays Fiddle][Fiddle Tune]

Hey, that's good! Oh, see that was nice. And how much time do we have now? That's it. Is it?

Done ran out of time?

[Alec Plays Fiddle][Song: Angels We Have Heard on High]

[Laughter]

Oh! That is beautiful. Yeah. Well that's too bad our time is run out but uh, at least we got some news. That's beautiful.

I got a boy who wanted the twins here.

[Uh-huh.]

Getting good on the--, the--

Yeah. He's the one help you out-- in that last year.

Yeah!

[Margaret Larocque]Oh yeah.

[Michif][What, well--]

Darrell.

Darrell. Yeah, uh-huh.

And uh--

Oh, that's so beautiful. I think they'll be able to--

See. Yeah, I-- I read notes little bit.

Mmm!

And then uh-- well, he doesn't read notes, but uh, he knows, for "A"- "B"- "C". If I hit "G"-- if I say "G", he'll hit "G" so, like "Angels We Have Heard On High." Well, then-- I'll put "A"- "A"- "A" then, you know, "E"...

Changes.

..and then down. And I just put the letters.

Then he learns that way.

And he plays that and he knows where to put his fingers, there.

Oh! That's good! Well, that's uh, good you're passing on your talents.

After he learns that, good, and then here we practice. I don't remember what one we played. I forgot it. Here, he guesses it right on.

Oh, here see!

And he's young, see he could remember her.

Yeah, sure, yeah.

"You go that Dad?" "Yeah" I says.

That's good.

He says " Yeah. I got that. I got your paper." With all the letters-- the notes there.

Eh! That's goo huh? Well, I hope you'll pass it on to his kids. Is he married yet?

Yeah.

Yeah well he should pass that on.

He's got two girls.

Pass it on to his kids there to do that, you know, they play violin and piano and everything. So that's beautiful, it's just-- it's beautiful.

[Margaret Larocque] Usually the kids like Elaine and Shirley, [?], uh,

Yeah.

[Margaret Larocque] Christmas Eve, they'll all pull in here.

Yeah about seven o'clock!

[Margaret Larocque] And they bring their guitars and all that.

Oh, my goodness--

[Margaret Larocque] Oh, you should hear. [?] "Silent Night" and all that, outdoors [?] it's country western songs and [?]

[Laughter]

And then our grandkids there, uh, Leonard Champagne.

Mhm.

And girls there.

Mhm.

They're good singers.

Oh, yeah, that's good.

They sing right with the girls.

Oh, that's good! I wish they'd come and join us. We want to start that at the-- Ste Anthony's, you know, to have-- get young people playing, singing. Oh, maybe they hear about it. Okay, that's about it.

[Michif][Thank you.]

Do I have time for--

[Michif][...thank you.]

[Debbie Chook] Uh-huh.

[Michif][Well, thank you--]

Yeah, you're welcome!

--Alec, Margaret.

[Margret Larocque] Oh, you're welcome!

[Michif][Thanks a lot, times ten!]

Mmm!

[That was simply] nice. And they have so much more to tell, but time just allows us to s--, you know, so much time. But I'm glad we got in your music anyway.

[Michif][Well I said thank you to them already, thank you Alec, thank you Margaret.]

And that was really great, [That was] really beautiful. So--

[Michif][Thank you]

I can't say--

[Michif][Thank you]

--enough times. God bless you, people.

[Music][Fiddle tune]

[Debbie Chook]The producer of "As We Remember" [Ay-shi-kish-kish-shi-yauhk; Ee-shi-kishkishkshiyahk] is Debbie [Chook] in association with KEYA public radio 88.5. FM, Belcourt, North Dakota. Technical engineering is provided by Janice Keplin for "As We Remember" on 88.5 FM KEYA I'm Debbie [Chook.]

[Music][Fiddle Tune Continues]