Cecile has adjusted well to her new home. She was familiar with the center, having been a rehab patient in 2011, after a bout with pneumonia at the age of 98. Because of her determination to “get better and stronger,” and her willingness to exercise, Cecile was considered a star pupil by the rehab staff. Food has become one of Cecile’s other pleasures.
She loves hot tea with milk at meals, Raisin Bran with her breakfast, and most soups. Bob and Sue, her son and daughter-in-law, try to visit most every day. As a result, they have gotten to know most of the nursing and support staff. They commented, “After caring for Mom for several years at home, it’s been difficult turning over that responsibility to others. We’ve found that the Gainesville staff provides the care and comfort for Mom that we can no longer provide. We’ve been very pleased with the responsiveness of the staff to our requests for information and assistance. It’s a comfort having Mom close by in a safe and secure environment.”
Born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1912, Cecile and her family moved to nearby Blackstone, Massachusetts, just across the border, when she was around three. Her father, a tinsmith by trade, made decorative tin ceilings and copper and tin roofs for churches and other commercial and residential buildings. Cecile was the oldest child with twin younger brothers, Albert and Leo, who were born premature. She recalls how her mother put them in a box next to the stove to keep them warm. They both lived well into their 80’s.
Raised in a devout Catholic household, Cecile attended a Catholic boarding school in Canada from age 12 to 14. There were no buses at the time to take her to the Catholic school in nearby Rhode Island. She came home for Christmas, Easter, and summer vacation. When the buses became available she was able to attend eighth grade locally. To this day Cecile enjoys attending the Holy Trinity Catholic Mass in the Clairmont Living Room on the first Friday of each month.
As a loving, caring person, Cecile left school at an early age to care for her sickly mother and help out around the house. After a year or so she went to work at the local mill, working there until she married in July 1935. She recalls meeting her future husband at a costume party at the church when she was 17. She was first introduced to Euclide Pelletier
while dressed as a boy.
Although Cecile had several suitors as a young girl, it was love at first sight when she met Euclide. According to Cecile, Euclide was the “one and only love of her life.” Because of the Depression, they waited five years to marry so they could save for their first apartment. Their weekly rent at the time was $5.00.
Cecile and Euclide established their first home in Woonsocket, where their three children, Pauline, Jeanne, and Robert, were born. In 1949 the young couple and their three children moved to her family’s home in Blackstone so she could care for her elderly father. Sadly, in September 2001, Euclide, her husband of 66 years, passed away.
