A Woman of Valour: The Biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle

Abstract

[Joseph A. Roy] left [Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle] with instructions on how to handle the household budget. She was determined to survive and enjoyed some brief spendthrift years after his departure. Joseph then transferred the home to her in 1930 and the family lived on savings, produce from the garden and orchard, and on credit from the corner store. The Church also provided her with "hush money" in return for her silence about her life with Joseph. During the Depression, the family's way of life became much more difficult when the normal provisions were reduced. As a result, the family lived in abject poverty from 1935 to 1944. Marie-Louise rented the house and tried several business ventures, including operating a lunch counter, a convalescent home, and a kiosk. All of these ended up failing due to her lack of business experience and the general decline in people's incomes during the Depression. The family moved frequently to several locations where Marie-Louise sublet rooms. She sold possessions, eventually went bankrupt, and finally sold the family home The years 1906 to 1916 covered in Chapter 3 are a turning point in this saga. At 21, Marie-Louise became Father Roy's presbytery maid; she then followed him to Cache Bay for periodic visits. Their love flourished in discreet cohabitation and Roy seriously pondered his choices in terms of being part of the clergy. MarieLouise longed to leave for a city where their sexual relations outside of marriage would attract less attention. The discovery of her pregnancy in 1916 led to the couple's departure for Ottawa. Roy did not acquire a dispensation from the Catholic Church and marry Marie-Louise. "Living in sin" meant that he faced excommunication, and so he maintained the ambiguous status of their relationship. This infuriated her father, who threatened to set out for Ottawa to kill him.