There are a few highlights to remember from the past year, in addition to our annual meeting on July 29, 2022, in La Pocatière. The day before, a monument was also unveiled on the outskirts of the Rivière-Ouelle cemetery to pay tribute to the founders, including ancestor Bérubé; however, it was unveiled without being completely finalized. This is why it was not mentioned in Le Monde Berrubey (LMB) until the summer of 2023. On July 28, 2022, a meeting was also organized in Rivière-Ouelle for family associations concerned by the monument, which is also dedicated to the first seigneur, Jean-Baptiste-François Deschamps, who died in 1703 and is buried in the Rivière-Ouelle cemetery. There were no other activities for our members over the past year.
But, those who follow the LMB have certainly noticed that we have lost several former members or their relatives over the past year, first and foremost our founding president, Marius, who was mentioned in last spring’s LMB, as well as the founding vice-president, Jacques, not to mention a well-known artist like Jean-Pierre, who was remembered in the winter 2023 issue of the LMB. I underwent major surgery for a problem I did not suspect existed. No one is immune to a hereditary problem, even when you belong to a lineage that counts several people who lived a hundred years.
In terms of heredity, we have also made progress for some time in understanding what was hidden until now in the puzzle of the origin of the Bérubé, a beautiful subject that remains to be explored in more depth in future issues of the LMB. Moreover, our LMB has been published every season for a 35th consecutive year. It alone represents an expense of over $5,000 per year, while our members’ contributions no longer exceed $4,000 by much. This is why we announced in the summer issue the sale of a painting by the late Laurier Bérubé. We are also considering involving our life members. Among them, those who have been receiving the LMB for 25 or 30 years surely did not initially believe that this life member status would allow them to receive it for free ad vitam aeternam. Moreover, nothing in our regulations states that a life member is thereby a subscriber to the LMB forever. The proposal currently on the table is to charge $20 per year to life members who want to continue receiving the LMB in paper format, which is roughly what it costs to produce and distribute it for each member. Finally, let us mention the publication at the beginning of the summer of a biography of Louis Bérubé, who played a major role in the revival of Quebec fisheries in the 20th century, in addition to being involved in international cooperation. The author is Gaétan Myre, who has also been active in supporting maritime fishing in certain developing countries.
