This article partly reproduces the interview by Isabelle Légaré, Le Nouvelliste
CHRONICLE : “Does it show that I’m 106 years old?” Asking the question, Roger Leblanc laughs heartily and puts down his rosary. “I just finished one,” he says before getting up from his chair to grab his walker, leave his room and walk briskly down the hallway.
I knew I had to speak louder around him, but no one had warned me that I also had to quicken my pace to catch up with him…
Roger Leblanc was born on November 30, 1918, 19 days after the end of World War I. “I always say that I brought peace,” he says with a smile.
There is no record to certify the feat, but the man of more than venerable age probably holds a record that makes him very proud and amuses him at the same time.
His story is undoubtedly worthy of mention.
The centenarian is the last of a family of 11 children, the first six of whom died before he was born, carried off, he says, by an infectious disease whose source was contaminated water. Three of the five surviving children, including himself, chose religious vocations.
From his room at Maison Saint-Joseph, the old man has a breathtaking view of the winter landscape surrounding the Moulin seigneurial de Pointe-du-Lac, in Trois-Rivières. Roger Leblanc was 12 years old the first time he set foot in the juniorate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction. He stayed there until he was 18, when he began his career in education that spanned 45 years.
His memory for names and dates is enough to make people envious. His face beams as he lists the schools where he either taught or was principal. Trois-Rivières, Louiseville, Dolbeau, Arvida, Chandler, Amqui, Alma, Saint-Prime… I surely forget some, unlike the one who left his mark on generations of students.
Brother Roger Leblanc was known for being “good, but very demanding,” he relates, agreeing with them: “What I asked for, I wanted to have.”
The man is visibly happy to go back in time and explain why little planes are hanging from the ceiling of his room.
“I was a pilot for 27 years, I even had my own aircraft.”
It was a Cessna plane that he particularly liked to fly at night. “I was alone in space, among the stars,” the religious man describes, his eyes shining.
His passion for aviation dates back to childhood, when little Roger accompanied his father to the Lac-à-la-Tortue airport where the Laurentide factory stored its own aircraft.
Brother Roger Leblanc is living a happy life at the Maison Saint-Joseph in Pointe-du-Lac, in Trois-Rivières.(Stéphane Lessard/Le Nouvelliste)
In a joyful mood from the moment he opened his eyes, Roger Leblanc practically jumped up to take part in the video session with, by Jove, unsuspected vigor.
The gift he received for his 100th birthday in 2018 is surely not unrelated to his dignified and confident appearance. There is no age limit for benefiting from hip replacement surgery. Roger Leblanc is taking full advantage of this prosthesis which improves his quality of life and, de facto, prolongs it.
“What keeps me alive is prayer.”
Every day that the Good Lord brings, the brother wakes up at 3:45 a.m. to say his first of three rosaries recited during the day. As in the photo at the top of this column, he slides between his fingers the object of devotion which, like him, resists the passing of time.
Bro Roger, the day of his 100 years of age, at Pointe-du-Lac.
“I pray with great fervor. It’s as if I could see heaven.”
As soon as he wakes up, Roger Leblanc goes down to the chapel where he meditates while waiting for the other members of his community to arrive. He is even the one who prepares the coffee for Father Béland who celebrates the 7:30 a.m. mass.
“Could you pray for me?” he is sometimes asked. The centenarian brother does so quite naturally, without seeking to know the intention behind this special request.
Obviously, he knows we are all curious to know his secret for surviving the ages. Being 106 years old is not nothing.
“I don’t believe it myself!”
His laugh rang out again, making her hunched shoulders jump slightly.
Superior of the Pointe-du-Lac congregation, Brother Marcellin Perron, puts forward this hypothesis on the exceptional longevity of his colleague who, with or without his rosary, never misses an opportunity to express his gratitude.
Full text in French : >>>
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LE BLANC Roger born 11/30/1918; Canada; community: Pointe-du-Lac
MATTE Marcel (Eugène) born on 05/07/1923; Canada; community: Laval
DESSUREAULT Normand born 03/03/1924; Canada; community: Laval
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Bro Marcel MATTE |
Bro Armand DESSUREAULT |
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PICHARD François born on the 20/07/1926 ; France ; Community: Josselin |
LEDUC Roland born on the 16/02/1927 ; Canada ; Community: Laval |
ORE Hubert born on the 06/12/1927 ; France ; Community: Josselin |
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VIDELO Joseph born on the 08/11/1928 ; France ; Community: Josselin |
LESOUEF Andréborn on the 21/03/1929 ; France ; Community: Josselin |
LECOINTRE Vincent born on the 11/02/1930 ; France ; Community: Josselin |