Achille married Marie Anna LE PERILLEUR. [Group Sheet]

Hermine married Louis Alphonse VERMETTE. (son of Louis Alphonse Wilfrid VERMETTE and Marie Azilda LALANDE) [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 87EB15E971A1D51189730060081E63277406
• Living: Between 1926 and 1931, Detroit (Sandwich)
• Occupation: Bef 1970, Quebec, Canada; Railroad Telegrapher
• Living: 23 Jun 2011, Quebec, Qc G1b 3e6; Address:
  56 Glinel,

Notes:

Occupation:
Email from Andre Vermette on 27 May 2013:

Hi Michael. Sorry it took so long to reply.

Then Daniel would be one of Paul's boys? Give my regards to him. He'd be my dad's first cousin, I guess. I never heard of him. Dad mentioned playing with your dad when he was a kid (in Detroit?), but I guess he and Michael weren't in the same neck of the woods.

VR was just short form for "Vermette". On the railway, telegraphists identified themselves usually with two letters in their name. He wasn't a ham operator as such with all the equipment for shortwave and all that. His equipment was simpler, conmsisting of a key ("bug") and sounding board. His specialty was railway Morse, which is slightly different from the international Morse which is used on the ham shortwave.

Of course, telegraphy is hardly in use any more. I think the last commercial telegram in Canada was sent in 1970.

My childhood memories are full of clicketty-clack of the sounding board in dad's office. I even got to recognize the station's call letters when the chief operator was trying to get his attention. I'd go running into the kitchen or living room and tell him they were trying to get a hold of him. There was always something mysterious about the way he sat there making sense of those ..... and -----'s. When you think of it, it was pretty important to the local and national economies, because all the commercial information was transmitted via telegraph. During the war, they controlled all the hardware, ammunition and troop movements. When he was called up for duty, his boss wouldnlt let him go because good operators were scarce and he was filling a "vital function" to the nation. When we lived in small towns in the 1950s, he held a special place because of his functions as station master. He had some fun with it, too. Once, he typed a fake telegram and gave it to the local garbage collector in Windigo. The telegram told him he had just won a free piano, but he had to travel to La Tuque and show up at some nun congregation too pick it up! The whole village was in on the joke, and everybody showed yup at the station. Just as he was about to board the train to go pick up his piano, dad told him it was just a joke!

Dad was very active at the train museum in St-Constant. He gave Morse demonstrations every summer and he and mom travelled to train displays and museums in Canada and the U.S. I kept his telegraph equipment as a souvenir, although I'll probably wind up donating it to the Morse Telepgraph Club, as he wished.

We certainly lost a big piece of the family with his passing. But life goes on, and he will be sorely missed.

Your cousin,

Andre

Died:
From Andre Vermette via email on 16 Apr 2013 (clipfire@sympatico.com)

We regret to inform you that JPV passed away this morning (Tuesday) at his nursing home in Rawdon, Qc.

He was 89.

He had been ill with the influenza for about a week. They placed him on antibiotics over the weekend, but despite the best containment efforts and because of an already-weak condition, he couldn't make it.

The urn will be on display at the Rajotte Funeral Home, 765 rue Notre-Dame in Repentigny from 2-5 p.m. and 7-10 p.m. Fri. April 19. The funeral will be held at Notre-Dame-des-Champs church on Ibervile blvd. Repentigny at 1:30 p.m. Sat. April 20.

JP's bug and sounder will of course be on display at the funeral home. Donations can be made to the charity of your choice.

Email from Andre Vermette on 5/14/2013:

Hi Michael. I'm doing OK. JP's passing was not unexpected. He had been pretty miserable for the past year. Lost his mobility, memory and was incontinent. The quality of life just wasn't there. When a virus swept through his floor, his already weakened condition made him prone to bad things. His lungs quickly filled up, and he basically quit breathing.

My dad was very musical. His favorite song was Old Man River, which he often sang. You can see him singing it at his 88th birthday party last year with a group of his friends. I also uploaded his biography, which you can read online. I don't know if you can read French or not, but it gives you an idea of all the places he lived.

go to: http://www.dropbox.com
first name: andre
last name: vermette
email address: clipfire@sympatico.ca
password: Pav1384517

I'm in the process of figuring out how to upload an interview he did on telegraphy for the History Channel a while back. I'll let you know if I'm successful.

Jean-Pierre married Pierrette LEVIS. [Group Sheet]

Therese married Serge PHENIX. [Group Sheet]

Esthelle married Yvon LEFEBRE. [Group Sheet]

Esthelle married Don DUNCAN. [Group Sheet]

Andre married Lorraine-Margaret DUGGAN. [Group Sheet]