On October2, a group of 22 participants met for dinner at Momento restaurant. After the meal, the group travelled to attend a conference. The talk was entitled ¨Exceptional women buried in our cemeteries¨. We all learned a lot from this presentation.
Here is a summary of the exceptional women who were presented.
Marie Fitzbach: Foundress of the 1st Côte de Beaupré convent and of the Beauport convent. A married Dame de Bellechasse, she had 2 daughters who fulfilled her dream of taking religious vestments. She became a boarder with the Good Shepherd Sisters.
Alys Robi: A life of glory and misery. Quebec's first major international star.
Thais Lacoste: For nearly 40 years, she worked for the advancement of women's rights.
Monique Corriveau: Writer of 13 children's novels, winner of numerous literary awards and mother of 10 children.
Malvina Racicot: Wife of Germain Lépine, owner of the funeral home of the same name. On his death, she took over the business (1917-1937), creating an ambulance service, incorporating the company and purchasing the city's first mobile hearse. She was called upon to fetch shipwrecked passengers from the Empress of Ireland off Rimouski.
Irma Levasseur: First French-Canadian woman pediatrician - she used to say that children were not made to suffer. An example of courage and determination.
Emma Gaudreau: First woman dental surgeon in Quebec and Canada. All the more remarkable in that she was a farmer's daughter from Montmagny.
Marie-Louise Hamel: wife of Zéphyrin Paquet, co-founder and designer of the famous Paquet store, which was a fixture in Québec City for 131 years.
Zélia Richard: wife of François Leclerc, she helped her husband start a cookie factory with his own recipes in the small kitchen of their home. This business would become one of Quebec's finest jewels, Les Biscuits Leclerc.
Jeanne Tessier: Last resident of the famous Tessier house in Beauport, one of the colony's first homes. In 1960, she deeded her house to the municipality under conditions that included never making a profit from either the house of the land. This contract was thorn in the side of the municipality for decades.
Jeanne Badeau: Co-owner with her husband Pierre Parent of the Beauport stone quarry, now Uni-Béton. She was in charge of stone sales, accounting, sales contracts and male employees. She was quick on the draw for those who didn't move fast enough for her taste. She sold stone to churches, religious communities and all the big bourgeois of Upper Town. She had 20 children, all living, including 3 sets of twins.
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