Just call me Lois!
When the enumerator came to our home, my French-Canadian grandmother must have been caring for me while my parents were at work as I was just a toddler. My Mémère spoke little English, we were never allowed to speak English to her and never ever did she call me Lucie - I was baptized Lucienne so she and my mother always called me by that name. The rest of the world called me Lucie, sometimes Lou (especially my sister) as Lucienne does not pronounce well in English. As a child I didn't like my name when Scout leaders or other non-French would call me Loushiene. UGH!
Anyhow, I can picture Mémère Levesque repeating the name to the enumerator so he'd get it right: "Lucie Enne" anyhow what the Irish, English-only speaking enumerator came away with and wrote down was LOIS E - so as I say, just call me Lois.
To be honest, I am enjoying going through the 1940 Census and finding all of my family and extended family. Seeing where they lived, who lived near them, what kind of work they were doing and how they fared where their education or work was concerned and how they did financially since they had all lived through the Great Depression.
At the same time, I must say that as much as the 1940 Census is both interesting it is also sad. I am seeing relatives, neighbors, classmates who lived in my neighborhood who are no longer with us today. You look at that and realize just how fleeting life is knowing that the many people you knew are gone. Where have the years gone? Where have our ethnic neighborhoods filled with families and extended families gone?
Now remember that if you decide to look for me in the 1940 Census, look for Lois E otherwise you'll not find me. Just think, all this time I've waited to see me in a census and now that the census has been released, I'm still not in it. What can I say? Perhaps this is a way to be forever young.
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Lucie's Legacy
Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
April 1940 ~ forever young
