Tag: Magdaleine

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Biography

Funny tidbits

One time a girl at work brought in some cheesecake cupcakes as a peace offering. It was so good I [Dorothy] got the recipe and took a batch out to the family. I told Grandpa [Florent] that it was a custard and we had been eating it. My turkey of a nephew Tom asked me what was in the cupcakes and I tried to be vague about it, but he kept pressing me for an answer, and I, stupidly, told him the cupcakes contained cream cheese. Grandpa never ate them again.

One Christmas your Grandpa [Florent] and I [Dorothy] were driving to your Mom [Lorraine] & Dad’s [Edward’s]. I had the desserts, I had placed a cherry pie on the floor in the back of the driver’s seat.

At Utica and 14 Mile a guy in a car made a left hand turn right in front of me. Don’t know why he couldn’t have waited; our 2 cars were the only ones there.

Well, we didn’t have any cherry pie for dinner because I had to slam on the breaks and the pie slid under the driver’s seat and I had cherry pie all around my feet.

My grandpa’s [Eduard’s] house had a porch with windows on two sides of the house, near the back door was a swing fastened to the porch ceiling by two chains. One day Aunt Martha & someone else were in the swing and one of the chains broke. No one was hurt. We laughed so hard about this; Aunt Martha had to wash her underpants because she wet them.

When this was happening, my dad [Florent] + Uncle Joe [Morock] were picking up a boyhood friend of my dad’s, Father Joe Duquette, a very funny man.

After we got through laughing about the swing, we decided to fasten the swing + wait for the men to return. We wanted to face where the guys would sit in it. Well, they sat in it and we giggled and giggled, waiting for it to fall. The guys asked us why we were giggling so we finally had to tell them because their weight wasn’t enough to break the chain. We were disappointed!

The only place to wash at my Grandpa’s was the kitchen sink. One time, your Grandma [Helen] told your dad [Edward] to wash his hands. He wasn’t moving so Grandma told him again. No movement. My Aunt Len [Magdaleine], who was severely retarded and couldn’t speak clearly, was also in the kitchen. She walked over to your dad, grabbed him by the ear and took him over to the sink. Your dad was sure surprised and we all had a good laugh.

Categories
Biography

Florent

Born in Beveren, Belgium on January 22, 1900. In Belgium, the people living closer to France are called Flemish and the part of Belgium near the Netherlands are called the Walloons. The Flemish think they are superior. I believe there is still agitation between the two – both want their dialect to be the language of the country.

[He] came to the USA at the age of five with his parents Eduard & Marie, his very retarded sister Magdaleine (often called Len or Leneka) who was born on 3/18/01, and his half-sister Alice de Cauer.

Marie did not care for it here so she and the children returned to Belgium. Because she was not treated well by the family in Belgium, she and the children returned to the United States when Florent (Grandpa’s given name) was seven years old.

They settled in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called Republic. A lot of settlers in Republic were from Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Finland. (No doubt they like the cold and snow like the homeland.)

Florent like to ski and bobsled with his buddies when he was young. His father had a garden in the summer; on his lunch hour during garden season (when school was in session), Florent would have to deliver vegetables to his father’s customers.

Iron ore mining was the main industry in Republic and surrounding area.

When Florent was in grade school, he would be asked to sit with newcomers arriving from Belgium and teach them the 3 R’s [reading, ‘righting, ‘rithmetic] until the children would learn the English language.

Florent graduated from Republic High School.

After WWI work slackened in the mines and only one member of a family could work in the mines at that time. When he was 18 Florent decided to come down to Detroit to work in the factory. He started at Packards. Was also on their baseball team.

After Grandpa [Florent] came to Detroit, he was not with Belgium people. Years later I asked him to say something in Belgium [sic] and he couldn’t remember anything.

Some time later he got into Ford Motor Company’s school and was taught tool and die making and subsequently got a job with Ford’s in River Rouge.

[He] used to take the Baker street car from the east side of Detroit all the way out to the Rouge plant.

Florent met Helen Morock at the Arcadia Ballroom on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Years later we (your dad [Edward] and I [Dorothy]) were told that the first time he saw Helen, he said to himself that she was the girl he wanted to marry.

Grandpa [Florent] and I [Dorothy] moved to Eastpointe on October 1, 1978. On Dec. 15, 1979 I put him in the hospital. He might have had a slight stroke before he went to the hospital. While in the hospital he had a massive stroke. It was touch & go for a while after that he could speak but he was mentally incompetent.

He had to be put in a nursing home where he stayed for 11 months.

In one of his lucid moments he said “You know they got my number” and I said “yes, but they’ve got to call it.” He agreed. Right after Christmas he was put in the hospital where he passed away on December 31, 1980.

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Biography

Visiting Republic

When your dad [Edward] and I [Dorothy] were kids and we all would go up to Republic to visit our grandpa [Eduard], Uncle Joe [Morock], Aunt Martha and Ruth would go along. Grandpa and Uncle Joe would go fishing every day and every day our big meal at near noon would be fresh sautéed fish. Delicious!

Our appetites were so ravenous when we were there, we would eat cereal and then toast bread on top of the wood burning stove. It tasted so good! I can remember one breakfast I had 5 slices of toast. Aunt Martha hollered at us and told us to get out of the kitchen that day. Saying she and Grandma [Frances?] were getting dinner ready and we were still eating breakfast.

One year Uncle Joe, Aunt Martha, Ruth + Uncle Henry, Aunt Martha and their four girls plus Grandma [Frances] Morock all went up to Republic. Of course, our main meal was fish. One day baloney sandwiches were put on a big plate and placed on the table where the kids were seated. We were told to wait until given the word to eat. When we were given the word, you never saw anything disappear so fast! 

Grandma Morock was a heavy-set woman who wore long dresses which she sewed together by hand with tiny stitching without {illegible}.

{illegible} across the road from my Grandpa’s [Eduard], there is a picture of her there. {illegible} her dress looks like a balloon.

One year Uncle Joe, Aunt Martha, and Ruth accompanied our family to Republic. There were 7 of us in a 4-door 1938 Chrysler. We kids took turns sitting on a small chair in the back. We weren’t too far from my Grandpa’s [Eduard’s] on a gravel road when a tire blew. I remember our Aunt Martha saying “hold it Joe.” The car went out of control and rolled over about 3 times, hitting a huge rock. When the rolling was done, the car was on its side. One of us was standing on Ruth and Len [Magdaleine]. Amazingly none of us were seriously hurt. Grandma [Frances? Helen?] had some skin burns from rubbing on the upholstery. We found Uncle Joe’s rimless glasses in the grass. The car was totaled. People couldn’t believe no one was seriously hurt or killed.

1938 Chrysler Imperial Touring Sedan

A car stopped and a man offered to take the women and kids to my Grandpa’s. Uncle Joe and my dad [Florent] stayed with the car. When we arrived at my Grandpa’s, the man hesitatingly gave us his business card. He sold tombstones!

I believe that was the time Uncle Joe’s insurance agent neglected to renew his auto insurance so he had no insurance.

Grandpa [Florent] and Uncle Joe had to buy a used car — a 2-door Chevrolet. Talk about being packed in that car like sardines! Needless to say, that vacation was not the best.