The following biography was written in 1950 by Jaddus-N.LeBlanc, who was Évariste's first schoolmaster in 1904.
Évariste L. Léger
Évariste L. Léger was born in St-Antoine de Kent on March 29, 1898, the fourth child from the marriage of Laurent Michel Leger and Émélie Leon Breau.
Évariste L. Léger was born in St-Antoine de Kent on March 29, 1898, the fourth child from the marriage of Laurent Michel Leger and Émélie Leon Breau.
After completing his primary education in the village school, he enrolled at St. Joseph College in September 1914 and completed his education in 1917 when he obtained his degree with distinction.
During wartime, he went to work for the Robb Engineering Works, in Amherst, Nova Scotia where he was employed for one year. In 1918, he went to work for his father who was then in the timber trade and remained there until November 1923.
In February 1925 he joined the Metropolitan Life Company as an insurance agent and two years later he was promoted to the rank of assistant manager in the district of Lewiston, Maine, with jurisdiction of their section from Rumford, Maine.
On June 17, 1926, he married Florence, daughter of Thomas Bourque, who bore him four girls and two boys.
He received his American citizenship in 1935 and, in January 1936, his superiors made him one of three Acadian managers out of a total of 825 managers, with his office in Calais, Maine. Some time later he was transferred to Lowell, Massachussetts where he was made manager. He remained there for five years until September 1941 when he was made responsible for the district of West Warwick in the state of Rhode Island, which includes the southern part of this state. At that time, he hade under his responsibility 22 agents.
Université St. Joseph awarded him an honorary title in Commercial Sciences in June 1945 and his company, following this example, called on various occasions as an honorary chairman of the Association of Managers of Rhode Island and the southern part of Massachusetts.
In 1950, his Chapter 30 from Providence, R.I., named him president of the Veterans' Association, which included 200 employees with over twenty years of service in the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
He took an active interest in civic, religious and fraternal in his adoptive city and was a member of the Lions Club, Elks, Club Frontenac, the Chamber of Commerce, the Insurance Agents' Association and the Assumption Society. He was president of the Belle-Alliance branch in Rumford, Maine, and the first chairman for the state of Maine for regional conventions.
He often talked with pride of his record annual visits to his hometown parish of Saint-Antoine, which he visited with his wife and family for 27 consecutive years. This is clear proof that although he lived abroad, he always held fond memories of his good friends in St-Antoine.
He was also a diligent reader of the Evangeline newspaper. He told me some time ago that when receives his mail, the first thing that he thinks of is the Evangeline. Other newspapers are all secondary.
As has already been said in a preceding paragraph, in 1918 my friend was working for his father. It was then that the Spanish flu, which caused so much devastation in our parishes, made its appearance in St-Antoine. During a period of one month, 17 people died from this terrible disease.
In the space of just eight days, I saw my only three girls, aged 6, 13 and 17 years, follow their eternal path to the cemetery. Earlier when this disease began to appear, doctors stated that the disease was contagious. Their persistence was so great that nobody dared venture to treat their neighbors, or even their parents.
After the death of my children, my wife and my boy - no older than 11 years - were sick in bed. As for me, I wasn't much better. If we finally made it through this misery, it is thanks to my friend and his cousin, Prosper Leger, who spent entire nights caring for us. In the morning before they would leave, they made sure we had everything we needed for the day.
Thus, they continued their nightly visits until the time came when we were we able to care for ourselves. I believe that such dedication deserves to be rewarded here on earth. This is probably why he managed to get so many promotions, as mentioned in this biography.
