ARICHAT: Family, friends and municipal councillors are each remembering Lorenzo Boudreau in their own way, nearly two weeks after the former Arichat businessman and Richmond County historian passed away at the age of 94.
A moment of silence was held for Boudreau in the early stages of Monday’s regular meeting of Richmond Municipal Council in Arichat, as councillors honoured a man who had attended over 900 council meetings between 1982 and his passing on February 16.
In 2002, Boudreau received the title of “Honorary Councillor – Without Privileges” from the council of the day, and in 2009, he compiled information on every councillor elected since the municipality’s incorporation in 1879 for a bronze plaque that was put on display at the council chambers in Arichat.
District 1 councillor James Goyetche, who spoke with Boudreau on a weekly basis throughout a personal friendship lasting nearly five decades, recalled Boudreau’s presence at the former Arichat court house building when Goyetche was sworn in as warden in 1985.
“I always called Lorenzo ‘the most consistent councillor that there was,’” Goyetche told The Reporter Thursday afternoon. “He never had an election, but he was a ‘councillor’ for over 30 years.”
While Goyetche pointed out that Boudreau would not withhold any criticism he felt was warranted, he noted that the long-time member of the Royal Canadian Legion, the Isle Madame Historical Society, the Knights of Columbus and the Nova Scotia Liberal Association always presented his thoughts with dignity and respect.
“Lorenzo would never argue – he would never say ‘you’ve done wrong’ or ‘this is stupid’ or anything like that – he would say ‘you made that decision and you will live with it,’” Goyetche recalled.
“I regarded him as my mentor, and every time I did something in council, he’d call me.”
In the meantime, members of Boudreau’s family are now gathering his decades of research into the genealogy of the founding families of Isle Madame to prepare a digital archive of his work. According to his grandson Jason Boudrot, “The Lorenzo Project” received pledges of support from community members immediately after Boudrot unveiled the initiative at the reception that followed Boudreau’s February 20 funeral service.
“He assembled a huge body of information about the history and the genealogies of the Isle Madame and Richmond County families,” Boudrot pointed out.
“He’s chronicled 2,000 families of Landry’s from Isle Madame. If you had asked me to put a number on that, I wouldn’t have even come close to that.”
Boudrot added that many people inside and outside of Isle Madame were “surprised” by his grandfather’s passing, including those who had come to count on Boudreau as a reference point.
“[One] reaction was, ‘who are we going to go to, for information?’ So many people said ‘That’s who I called’ – everybody from surveyors, to lawyers, to people in the community who just wanted to find out who they were related to,” Boudrot recalled.
“He just developed a treasure trove of information… So what we want to do is start by digitizing all of that information and putting it on-line, so it’s freely available to everybody.”