Today is the centennial anniversary of my mother’s birth. Her life offers a typical Franco-American story.

Lucille Verreault Ledoux was born on July 21, 1921. She lived until May 5, 2015—just shy of 94 years.

I have written extensively about her life both here on the blog and in the memoir we wrote together, We Were Not Spoiled / A Franco-American Memoir.

This Franco-American story chronicles a life that is typical of many Francos of her generation and, as such, is an important addition to our understanding of Maine’s ethnically diverse communities of the past century.

This is a lifestory of often overlooked details, of information thought to be marginal and so too frequently lost to students of history. A basic function of memoir is to give witness to a time and a way of life gone by, and this Franco-American story succeeds admirably at this task.

In honor of her birthday, I am making the electronic version of the memoir available for free both today (July 21, 2021) and tomorrow (July 22, 2021). For your copy, just click here: We Were Not Spoiled / A Franco-American Memoir.

(If you prefer the hard copy, it is also available on the same page at $17.95 with free shipping.)

I hope you enjoy meeting my mother through the pages of her memoir.