Home Social Landscape Featured Articles Armand Trochu and the Ninetieth Anniversary of the Founding of Trochu: A Speech

Armand Trochu and the Ninetieth Anniversary of the Founding of Trochu: A Speech

by Jacques Bence

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As a necessary compensation for the hard life, the close relationships of the Trochu community soon generated a need for various distractions — balls, dinners, birthday celebrations, hunting, harvest celebrations, races, rodeos — to meet people, to break the loneliness, and to re-create the French atmosphere in part. Weddings, births, and deaths still formed the links. All joys, success, and distress were shared. Mutual aid was a duty. There is a striking contrast between the beautiful conviviality of Trochu Valley and the suspicious rigidity of many villages in France.

One might think that the departures for the European War of 1914 would have ended the Trochu venture, but nothing of the kind happened. The arrival of the CPR induced a new wave of enthusiasm for new projects with the arrival of more pioneers, among them the Frere family, whose courage, strength, and will matched that of the first pioneers. Not only should we pay tribute to the first settlers, but also to those after them, up to the present day, who have developed Trochu's valleys.

I would like to pay a special tribute to Lorene and Louis Frere. On a cold day in January 1988, when a large envelope addressed to "Armand Trochu Descendants" arrived at La Venauderie, we did not know that our uncle's Canadian souvenirs and letters, which had been slowly getting dusty for ninety years, would be roused out of their lethargy by the desire of a Canadian family to bring the first days of Trochu valley to life. This has now happened. Today, 26 July 1995, the St Anne Ranch Museum, full of souvenirs, is just behind us. Great accolades are due for the tenacity and perseverance of Lorene Frere who travelled to Europe searching for and tracking down every bit of memorabilia. Congratulations to Lonis, and his family, and the children whom we have seen at work beautifully restoring the log building housing this museum. I wish as well to thank Patrick Brunet-Moret, near grandnephew of Armand Trochu, who did not stint on his time to put together all available correspondence of our pioneers and organize our trip to Trochu. Without him, many of us may not have met on this historical site. Here I take the liberty to express, in the name of the French delegation, our great emotion at attending such a big commemoration. On behalf of all of us thank you so much, Louis and Lorene.

Lorene, to end this long speech for which I apologize, I would like to offer you, for your Museum, a souvenir of this commemoration. I am sure it will find a place somewhere.

Vive le Ste. Anne Ranch! Vive Trochu! Vive L'Alberta! Vive Le Canada!

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Related Links:

• Musée Trochu (in French only)

From Aspenland 1998 — Local Knowledge and Sense of Place
Edited by: David J. Goa and David Ridley
Published by: The Central Alberta Regional Museums Network (CARMN) with the assistance of the Provincial Museum of Alberta and the Red Deer and District Museum.