One Woman's Journey – Angeline Hogue (1912-1996) continued

Emile Roy and Angeline Hogue (courting years) c.1936

The following excerpts are drawn from the 1994 book Nootsie, The Life of Ernest Emile Roy (1914-1992) written by J. Paul-Emile Roy, CA. This is Part Two. Read more in Part One.

According to Angeline, Christmas time for the Hogue children meant a special treat of bananas and oranges. Each child could look forward to getting them in their Christmas stockings, along with a few pennies. These were not your typical stockings but huge long woollen socks - 17 of them. Christmas was also a time to receive their father's blessing and have fun. There were no radios or movie theatres back then but the Hogues had a Victrola machine on which they would play records. Several of the children also played musical instruments.

In 1932, the Hogue family settled in Jogues and Emile Roy became friends with the Hogue boys. Within two years, he began courting Angeline. In the beginning, Emile would occasionally come to the post office to pick up parcels and would “sneak a look” at Angeline whenever he was there. He bought her a special present for Christmas in 1935. It was a watch with the year and their initials “AH 1935 ER” inscribed on the back. During their courtship, they exchanged greetings for Valentine's Day, Christmas and other occasions.

On their dates, Emile and Angeline shared many precious moments. She noted that, “It didn't take much to please a person in those times.” They would hold hands and Emile would whisper “sweet nothings” in her ear. Even though his feet were planted firmly in the present, he would talk about his plans, hopes and dreams. And, he would explain his ideas for making his dreams come true.

Angeline and Emile wed in 1937

Emile was eager to get married but Angeline was not. Having shared a house with many brothers and sisters, she wanted her own place to live in and was willing to wait for it. So Emile figured, if that was the case, then he would make sure that she had a house. When Emile asked if it would be okay to build a house on part of his father’s property, the response was “Sure, you can build a house on that piece of land across the other side of the river. If you build there, the land is yours.” The house was nearly finished when Angeline and Emile got married in August 1937. It needed a number of finishing touches, however, such as tiles for the kitchen floor. But, after the nurses had given Angeline a shower, they had pretty much everything they needed to get started.

Emile and Angeline 50th anniversary in 1987

On her journey through life, Angeline was never alone. She always had her family at heart. There were many landmarks on that journey. Some were triumphs and some were tragedies. They are worth telling and remembering. After all, she was special, my mom!