Ange-Aimé Bolduc

BOLDUC, Ange-Aimé - In loving memory of Ange-Aimé who suddenly and peacefully passed away with his family by his side at the Sault Area Hospital on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at the age of 82 years. A loving and devoted husband and soul mate of Chris for 60 years. He will be deeply missed by his children Victor, Jan Smith (James), Daniel (Debbie) of Sault Ste. Marie, Claudette of London ON, Lynne Biles (Mark) of Prince George BC, Denise (Wayne) of Toronto and the late Mary. Proud grandfather of Clifford, Sarah, Jessica, Norma, Daniel, Matthew, Garret, Kara and Cody. Great grandfather of Jazsper and D.J. He is predeceased by his parents Bertha Davey and Léon Bolduc, and brothers and sisters Louise Norwak, Fernand, Juliette Paquet, Jacqueline Drouin, Felix and Claudette of Quebec. Ange-Aimé came to Northern Ontario from Quebec in 1948. He was a long standing member of the Union of Operating Engineers. He was a master mechanic, skilled in many trades and loved creating his own inventions. His most recent project was building a perpetual magnetic wheel. He had many hobbies some of which included perfecting the art of making maple syrup and wine. We will sadly miss his hobbies, inventions and most of all, we will miss him. The family is grateful to Dad’s nurse practitioner Wendy Payne (at CCAC) for her devoted care and ongoing support to meet his special needs. Family and friends may call at the Arthur Funeral Home & Cremation Centre on Thursday, July 28, 2011, from 11 am until time of the funeral service in the chapel at 1 pm. Msgr. Victor Amadio officiating. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions to Muscular Dystrophy Canada or the Group Health Centre Trust Fund CHF Program would be appreciated.

ANGE AIMÉ BOLDUC – March 4th, 1929 to July 2011

On behalf of our family, I would like to express our deep appreciation to all of you for joining us today to celebrate Dad’s long and amazing life. So many of you who knew our Dad knew him as a strong and proud man; quiet and reserved as well.

Dad was born in St. Martin, Quebec and grew up in a Catholic upbringing with 6 brothers and sisters. He came to Ontario in 1948, to work at a lumber camp. He eventually met Mom, got married and raised his own 6 children using the family values that he learned growing up in Quebec.

One of the biggest lessons we learned from Dad is the value of hard work. He was one of those hard working fathers. When his day shift was over he would work in his garage in the evenings on various jobs to provide for his family and all of his hobbies. Dad lived a life of quiet inspiration, he loved to create and build things his own way. He never turned down a challenge asked of him by Mom or any of his kids. No project was too big or too small.

Dad’s work ethic has been passed onto his children and grandchildren, having fathered (and grandfathered) a line of multi-taskers, do-it-your-self-ers, MacGyvers, and burn-the-midnight-oilers.

My dad’s strength independence, neatness and organizational skills made his kids who they are today. Vic worked with Dad in building construction, carpentry and in the Operator’s Union and spent lots of winter days and nights selling snow machines and even having a “few” drinks of wine. Dan shares Dad’s interest in automotive and tinkering in the garage but both sons have grown into jack of all trades because of his example and mentorship. And the girls are no exception; each carries with them their own adaptation of his creativity and work ethic. Claudette claims without question that she is the number one MacGyver daughter; this claim however is up for debate.

We always remember what a hard worker my dad was. He always provided his family with all that they needed, for such a large family. Lynne remembers watching him get ready for work each morning – having a huge bowl of porridge topped with bran, cornflakes and brown sugar, all the while Mom packing him a big lunch and off he went to work.

Dad had a routine that the kids can all remember; home each day by 4:45 to a home cooked meal prepared by Mom, followed by a cigarette and snooze on his lazy-boy; this was when everyone was sure to be quiet.

But the day wasn’t over after that. Each night after his nap he would head to his favourite place “the garage”, oftentimes until as late as 11:00 pm. Lynne remembers she could see the spark of the welder flickering through the small window on the garage door, or the sound of his hammer putting something special together; when he was working on a special something, he made one for everyone.

Dad was an inventor and a creator. If he found a problem he’d fix it, and if he had an idea he would run with it; not always with the best results but always with the best of intentions. Vic remembers one time when he decided to build a hover craft out of a big exhaust fan. He put a wooden chair on top and told Vic to hop on and try it out; the problem was there was no way to control the direction. Vic remembers a wild ride bouncing off walls and things in the garage. There were no breaks, let alone a steering wheel and only one way to stop – when Dad decided to pull the plug on the fan. Not too many years ago Jan brought over a design of a snow shovel for people with bad backs. Using just the picture, Dad had designed his own version adapted for someone with mobility problems such as himself. Over the years Dad was the inventor and mastermind behind many things. This included his special recipe wine (just ask Vic), boats, snow machines, a tent trailer including sewing all the canvas and curtains, a wood splitter, equipment for boiling sap for maple syrup and most recently his work on a proto-type for a perpetual magnetic wheel that was destined to change energy production for the world. Dad could have been rich a few times if he had put a patent on a few of his treasures.

More important than work to Dad was his family. We were raised with a firm but fair hand. He was patient and understanding, but we all knew what ‘look’ to watch out for when we pushed too many buttons. He had a special relationship with each of his children.

As a teenager, Jan remembers asking Dad to teach her to drive a standard. Probably scared, but wanting to please his daughter, he obliged and they started their lessons on an old Voxol car with Dan (still young at the time) in the back seat. The story goes that every time Jan would grind the gears, Dad’s head would lurch forward and almost hit the dashboard. Jan’s reputation as a bad driver grew with Dad; having not too many years later totalling the new electric lawnmower in the ditch after putting it in reverse instead of first. That was the end of driving lessons and after that, no more daughters learned how to drive standard. Throughout our childhood he was patient, and never raised his voice. But, he would keep a mental note of our stupidity only to remind us in our adult years.

Dad enjoyed a good joke. At Vic’s 55th birthday he gave him a very special gift. What was unusual was that my mother typically takes care of buying the presents, but this time Dad wanted to get something extra special for him. He even took the time to wrap it. What ‘it’ was, was a box of hair dye. I guess he thought Vic needed to cover his grey hair before he started to look his age.

Dad knew how to enjoy life, and to find joy in the simple things; family, friends, camping, fishing, gardening, music, dancing and a love for all living things, especially animals.

We remember him as an outdoorsman and camp as his second home. We all have memories of going to the ‘suger camp’ for maple syrup and the process that went into making the final product from building a wood splitter to cut the wood for the maple syrup, to making maple candy for his kids and grandkids.

Claudette remembers sitting in his garage at his workbench looking at old car manuals and old wood working books. They’d laugh at old things from yesteryears and the prices of cars and spend hours watching Dad’s favourite shows like the Price is Right and the Antiques shows, Man Tracker, Survivor Man, Man vs Wild and of course the old Western movies – with or without John Wayne.

And we can all remember family card nights with Mom and Dad, and the grandkids and all the cheering, the bickering, and the accusations of cheating but most of all the laughs. Only Dad knew how to work the card shuffler right.

Dad was a responsible loving husband, father grandfather, and friend. He loved his family and welcomed his extended family with open arms throughout the years; son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, all the grandchildren, their boyfriends and girlfriends and of course – all the dogs too.

For all his strengths, it pained us to see him live the last few years of his life with a muscular disease that progressively limited his mobility – it just wasn’t fair. Not once did he ever complain (except maybe about his breakfast) or feel sorry for himself and he always maintained his dignity. He was always optimistic and found his own way of getting around; that strength and fortitude was my Dad. As time passed, much to his chagrin, he had to let mom, his sons and daughters apply their MacGyver skills to make sure he was comfortable and safe. Though they sometimes bickered, my grandparents cared and loved each other more than anyone I know and always looked out for each other.

Dad, we always realized how fortunate we were to have you as a husband, father, grandfather and friend. You led a complete life, we are proud of you, and all that you were. We will always love you and will always miss you. But most of all we will miss your ideas and hearing about the ones to come.