A symbol of one couple’s legacy is endearing the hearts of many Lorette residents.

A commemorative bench was placed in front of La Parish of Notre Dame to honour the lives of 61-year residents, Leo and Adele Dubois.

The Dubois' eldest daughter Colette Roziere says her mother was very active in the church while her father was a town councillor, school trustee, Grand Knight with the Knights of Columbus, as well as a hockey and baseball coach.

But, it was the Dubois’ grandchildren that decided to remember them with the monument.

“It started last Christmas,” shares Roziere, “my Dad had passed away on Christmas morning and we got a letter from the grandchildren saying that they wanted to do this project for pa Pere and ma Mere, that it was going to be a bench, and they were paying for everything.”

Roziere says her father worked as a grader operator in the town and would wave to everyone.

“Everybody knew Dad and waved back,” shares Roziere, “and when he got older, he had a bench in front of the house and people always tooted the horn and he always waved at them.”

So, the bench became the symbol of Leo’s legacy while the placement would honour Adele’s.

“It’s placed in front of our church in Lorette, so Dad can keep on waving to people and Mom can represent the faith.”

The bench was erected on September 8, on which would have been Leo and Adele’s 69th anniversary.

Roziere says since that day many people have reached out to congratulate them on building such an appropriate symbol for the couple’s memory.

She then recounts Leo’s time as a community service worker and how some of the young people returned to him years later to say that he had believed in them and turned them around.

Leo and Adele Dubois.Leo and Adele Dubois.

“He always saw the good in them,” says Roziere, “but he just saw it as an extension of himself.”

According to Roziere her parents “always had a place at their table for everyone” and that “you never left their house without eating or having something to drink."

Adele would pass away in 2017 and with her dying wish asked the family not to let Leo get lonely. The family’s fondness for their father would last right up until that Christmas morning in 2019.

“We all took our turns with him at night for a year and a half. We stayed with him every night.”

Roziere wonders if later generations may have lost some of what her parents had as a result of modern ways of living, but she believes the grandchildren’s gesture shows that her parents successfully passed on their family values.

“They were good Samaritans,” offers Roziere trying to sum up her parents in a sentence, “always.  That’s what I would say."