By Jacqueline T. Lynch
Congratulations to Marie Proulx-Meader, former director of the French Heritage Center and the Franco-American community in Chicopee for the addition of a beautiful new monument on the Aldenville Commons that celebrates our city’s French heritage.
The former French Heritage Center raised funds to purchase the monument, which is in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. The names of the city’s historic four French churches are inscribed on the monument, to note the wave of immigration from Quebec that brought the energy and “Joie de Vivre” of this new culture to Chicopee.
The monument was dedicated in a ceremony on Aldenville Commons on Sunday, October 27th. Speakers were Ms. Proulx-Meader; former assistant director of the French Heritage Center Jeanne Proulx Hebert; and author, teacher, and historian Denis Ledoux, who read from his memoir French Boy. Fr. Bill Tourigny, former pastor of the Ste. Rose de Lima Church, concluded the ceremony with a blessing.
We encourage you to stop by and have a look at the lovely new monument on Aldenville Commons. In its simple way, it represents so much, and we at the Chicopee Historical Society applaud the efforts it took to bring the project to completion and join in the salute to the French community of Chicopee and their immigrant ancestors.
Second Photo: Author Denis Ledoux reading from French Boy.
Third & Fourth Photos: The Joie de Vivre monument, both sides.
Coming up in November
“This is the little town of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts…” begins our next presentation, a unique short film (about 25 minutes) on the life of a B-52 bomber crew from Westover Air Force Base when it was part of the Strategic Air Command. The title is Cowboy Five Seven, and was an episode of the anthology television show Schlitz Playhouse, broadcast July 17, 1959. The narrator of the program is actor James Stewart, who, apart from his Hollywood fame, was also a reserve officer in the U.S. Air Force. In fact, some six days after this program was televised, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
The “plot” of the story follows the average day in the life of this crew, who were real officers and airmen living in Chicopee at that time, and there are some scenes in town. The pilot hopes to return from his routine mission to catch his daughter’s recital at a local school.
Join us Wednesday, November 20th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bazan Community Room of the Chicopee Public Library, 449 Front Street, Chicopee. The event is free and open to the public.
The Community Preservation Act (CPA)
From the CPA website: “CPA is a state law passed in 2000 that allows Massachusetts communities to conduct a referendum to add a small surcharge on local property taxes. When combined with matching funds from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund, this dedicated fund is used to build and rehabilitate parks, playgrounds, and recreational fields, protect open space, support local affordable housing development, and preserve historic buildings and resources.”
To learn more, have a look at the CPA website.
www.communitypreservation.org
Please contact us if you’d like to help in the operation of the Chicopee Historical Society. Our efforts to research and preserve the history of Chicopee will require more help from the community if they are to continue.
Please contact us at TheChicopeeHistoricalSociety@gmail.com, or through our Facebook page, or our website here.
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