Today, the hockey world mourns one of its greatest.
Jean Béliveau, the legendary Montreal Canadiens centreman died Tuesday night. Sports reporter Dave Stubbs wrote in the Montreal Gazette that his “grace and leadership on and off the ice transcended hockey for more than six decades.”
He was 83 years old.
The Wikipedia description provides a glimpse of his family tree and his Acadian roots.
Jean Béliveau was born in 1931 to Arthur and Laurette Béliveau, the oldest of eight children.
Béliveau can trace his ancestry to Antoine Béliveau, who settled in 1642 in Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The Béliveaus were expelled along with the Acadians in 1755 and the family settled in the Boston area before moving to Québec to the Trois Rivières area in the mid-19th century.
Jean’s father was also part of a large family, one of six brothers, many of whom moved to western Canada in the 1910s although numerous relatives remained in the Trois-Rivières area and St. Célestin. Jean’s family moved to Victoriaville when Jean was six and Jean grew up in Victoriaville, attending L’École Saint-David, L’Académie Saint-Louis de Gonzague and Collège de Victoriaville schools.
The editorial cartoon in today’s Montreal Gazette is worth a look.
Jean’s grandmother, Celina Cormier, was also Acadian. Jean and I shared Great-Grandparents, Moise Cormier (about 1829) and Louise Bellefleuille (about 1833). My Grandfather was Joseph Cormier, brother of Celina, who moved out west to Wolseley, Saskatchewan.