4 Generations

My great grandmother Pauline Celeste Briere born April 6 or 1927, with two older sisters and four younger brothers in Damuels Connecticut, only her and one of her sisters are now left. In the year of 1947 she had married Leslie Walker who was born in Rhode Island 1925. Her first child a son was born in 1954, daughter in 1956, and last daughter 1964. As a child she was brought up in a three bedroom home and moved around a lot but was love by both sides of her family. As a very young child she started her first few years raised through the great depression. During WWII her husband was discharged because of a deft ear. Husband passed away in January 1977 before my father was born and after my aunt was born because of quadruple bypass surgery. With her time living in Maine she was a postmaster for 10 years having her deliveries run from her single room basement but then giving up her job to run down to Florida with her husband where they were happy with their children.

My grandmother Candice Pinard or what I call her MeMe she was born in Rhode Island in 1956 and was brought up in Florida and Maine. In her younger years she had moved school quite a bit. When she was down in Florida she was part of desegregation group where she would be put on a bus to go to a black school. She had ended her schooling in her sophomore but went back to get her GED. She was married in 1972 to David Pinard and they have been married for almost 48 years. She had first child a daughter in 1973 and a son my father in 1977. For 37 years she has had the same job but with different titles. She was a Sabattus bus driver for 8 years and a custodian for the rest.

My father was born February 3,1977 in the state of Maine. He was raised by Candice and David Pinard of the town of Sabattus. He went to high school here at Oak Hill. When he turned 18 he had his first child Gabby Pinard my oldest sister, then two years later Jenny Pinard and then three years later me. He was married three times. The first was Jenny and Gabby’s mother, then my mother and then my step mother. He had raised four girls and one boy in a small double wide trailer that was put down the driveway from my grandparents home.       

Now down to the last generation and the last one to graduate it’s been a long road for everyone. I’m just glad that I had a family to care for me even though we fought quite a bit and still do. I think it’s just because of all the stress that is coming and letting their last child go. Over all I am very glad to have such a family to raise me and be around.

Photo by Lesley Pinard