The Rocking Chair Has Many Stories

Marie's rocking chair is making it's third appearance on a blog. The first was on Lu's Place. The story is a fun one. I wrote it on June 19, 2018 in response to one of my daughter's daily Facebook questions. Her question was something like "what was your greatest life lesson by a family member?" go to website Lu's Place mrsfrenchie1.blogspot.com to see what happened to me. I also used the picture of Marie's father's rocking chair in my children's blog as well.
So just a few days ago I asked Marie's brother, Charles Aubin, AKA Uncle Charlie about her rocking chair. No one was allowed to sit in it and always had an afghan on it sitting behind her chair. Evidently that was to ensure that no one sat in it... It was his and Marie's father's chair and had many stories connected to it.
The story Charlie told me was about his daughter, Karen. She was about seven years old. At school they had been taught that smoking was very bad for your health and could even kill you to put it bluntly.

Charlie had taken his family to visit his parents. His father was a smoker and of course, I have told the story about his fun ashtrays. Well, Charlie's daughter, Karen, had crawled up on her Pepe's lap and took his cigarette's out of his shirt pocket. This was not acceptable and he told her to give him back his cigarettes. She said, "No!" He again told her to give him back his cigarettes in a very stern voice. She began to cry. He asked her why she was crying. Her response was this: "Because if you smoke cigarettes you will die and I don't want you to die."
Charlie said his father was taken aback but did not quit smoking.
The other story is about Marie's son, Roger sitting in that rocking chair, rocking his son, Roger Jr., whom had the chicken pox. Roger's son can remember that. Isn't that interesting? I think there are two reasons at least about that. It seems that Marie's son caught the chicken pox from his son and he was sick! I even think I heard that he had caught them twice, but I may be mistaken about that.
 But I think that the most important memory is again the legacy that Marie has left us all; the love of family. That legacy will never die as long as the Aubin/Lizotte families continue on into the future generations. Those values were instilled into their children and their children as far as I heard the other evening for 6 generations, maybe even 7 if you count the great grandparents that came to the United States from Canada. They continued to love and cherish their children as long as they were able. In the meantime their love has carried through some really tough trials and tribulations, but has endured.
Marie will never be forgotten.

His Eulogy For His Sister By Charles Aubin

At Marie's funeral Marie's brother, Charles Aubin, her youngest brother, gave us her last story. One none of us had ever heard. In a short five minutes he summed up her life with love and emotion. We were all just spell bound listening to him.
When Charles was about 6 or 7 years old he would go with his brother, Joe, to what Charlie called, "peddling papers." Of course, papers had to be delivered no matter what the weather was. On this particular day, Charlie rode on a sled to help his brother. The weather was frightfully cold. He said it was below zero.

 Marie Rose Aubin Lizotte
Charles Aubin
July 6, 2018

He was just a little boy and contracted frost bite in his little legs. He was unable to walk for two days or more.
Marie carried her brother everywhere she went for two days. I am having a bit of a problem typing this because stories always give me a picture in my mind. Marie was little more than 5'2". She was sixteen years older than Charles if I am correct. If I am not it makes no difference because she was in fact old enough to be his mother.
Charles talked about that. He told us that Marie was another mother to him. Yes, she was his oldest sister, but she cared for him since the time of his birth. She was not allowed to bathe or change him because he was a boy, but she cared for him in all the other ways. I am sure she rocked him, fed him, played with him etc.
Charles has always loved his sister. He sent her cards, money when she needed it, and  phone calls when she could hear. When Marie was not able to hear on the phone he called us regularly to check on her and also on us. He made scheduled appointments with me so that he could Facetime with her on my IPad. Invariably she teased him about his neck. I thought that was hilarious because she had the identical neck.

 He drove and/or flew to attend as many birthdays that he was able. He was here for her hundredth birthday as well as her hundred and third. He was at her house to celebrate many other birthdays as well.
On her hundred third birthday he came in gave us all a hug and went immediately to her bedroom and visited with her. All the time wishing and hoping that she would/could visit with him again. That was not to be. However, she did act like she knew him and held his hand. Her last act of love.