JOAN (BEDARD) BUTT

Our beloved mother, Joan (Bedard) Butt, passed away with her two daughters by her side on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2004 at Nanaimo, B.C.
She was born Jeanne Marie Bedard on May 17, 1922 in the township of Fort Frances, Ont. to the late Roseanna Marie Leblanc and Ferdinand Joseph Olivier Bedard.
She was predeceased by her husband, Kenneth George Butt, in 1982; and her first child, William George Ferdinand in 1939.
Joan is survived by her sons, Douglas (Terri) of Thunder Bay, Ont., Kenneth (Janice) of Gabriola, and Robert, Monica of Nanaimo; daughters, Laura Busch (Karl) of Nanaimo and Delores Johnson (Jim) of Gabriola; 16 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was the last of her siblings, and continued to reminiesce often of her childhood with her brothers and sisters, Joseph, Herman (“Armand”), Blanche, Melina, Peter, Cecile, Lorraine, and Albert.
Our Mother was a pillar of strength to us. She was a very generous person whose generosity will be remembered through the treasures she so enjoyed giving away to family and friends. A feisty soul right to the end.
She was proud of her “Canadien” heritage, some of which we would like to share.
The Leblanc family are Acadians who trace their ancestry back to Daniel Leblanc, the first Leblanc to arrive in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in the early 1600s.
The Bedard family are Huguenots who trace their ancestry back to Isaac Bedard, who arrived in Quebec around the year 1660.
As these two families were in Canada at such an early time, she had many grandfathers, uncles, and cousins who were voyageurs and coureur de bois who helped explore and open territories in New France.
Some of these ancestors married into First Nation tribes, and she was proud of the discovery of our Micmac and Huron ancestry and our Métis heritage.
Her ancestry includes the voyageur/coureur de bois Louis Durand, who mother was a Huron and grandfather a chieftain from the Bear Clan of the Huron nation. His story can be found on the Internet under “The Legend of Louis Durand” at http://www.durandfoundation.com/stories/theleg.php
Another of her early grandfathers, Nicolas Perrot (Perrault) was an important voyageur and peace-maker. Much has been written on him. He wrote a book which has been translated by Emma Helen Blair, entitled “The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes.”
Some of her noted distant cousins are Pierre Gaultier de Varennes—Sieur de La Verendrye (a grandfather was a voyageur with La Verendrye), Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Pierre Stanislas Bedard the Quebec Patriot, Acadian Patriots Joseph LeMaigre Leblanc and Pierre Leblanc, and the Acadian Métis brothers, Joseph Beausoleil Brossard and Alexandre Brossard.
We miss our Mother, who we were very blessed to have all these years, our Father, and our Aunties and Uncles very much. What a wonderful and proud heritage they and our ancestors have left us with.
Following our Mother’s cremation on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004, a family gathering was held at the home of her daughter, Laura.
We will be bringing “Mom” home to Fort Frances for a memorial on her birthday (May 17, 2005). She will be buried next to our Father at Riverview Cemetery.
“Pour tojours a nos coeurs”
(All our relations).