“She was a medicine woman in [the] Blessed Sacrament area. She would … help all the people who were sick … she would have her home remedies to, um, help the neighborhood and the whole community. Joe was sick one time and [she] came to the house and gave him like half a teaspoon of turpentine, and he was better the next day.”
Aerial view of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 2460 South Main Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1960s.
“They lived, they both lived in the Blessed Sacrament community. The church was built in 1902.”
Lillian’s father, François Xavier Deschenes, and her mother, née Albertina Boursier Martin, on their wedding day, 1907.
“They got married [on September 23,] 1907.”
Lillian’s father, François Xavier Deschenes, and her mother, née Albertina Boursier Martin in the 1920’s. Lillian’s mother, who was pregnant in this photograph, gave birth to fifteen children in a span of twenty-three years.
“All born … home delivered. Home delivery. She knew what was going on.”
The Deschene family residence on Detroit Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1940s; the family purchased the house in 1923.
“[I was] born in this house.”
A “Solace Art” card for Lillian’s brother, Joseph Pierre Leo Deschenes, who died on August 15, 1926, from a ruptured spleen incurred during an accidental fall at Maplewood Park in Fall River, Massachusetts.
“May Jesus Have Mercy on the Soul of Leo Deschenes.”
A Fall River Electric Light Company window display at 85 North Main Street, Christmas 1931; Lillian’s mother cooked for a very large family consisting of her husband and their fifteen children.
“My mother did the cooking, and one of my sisters.”
Marie Lillian Deschenes, called Lillian, as a child, circa 1932.
“We used to buy a book with paper dolls … we had coloring books, and chalk … we used to break a can; put our feet on the can, and walk with the cans. Yeah, yeah, we used to smash the cans and walk. That’s what we did when we were kids. We played hopscotch, too.”
Lillian and her brother, Joseph Arthur Albert Deschenes, called “Pete,” dressed for the Sacrament of Confirmation, circa 1938.
“Sister Mary Joseph taught most of my brothers and sisters. She taught everybody.”
Lillian’s parents, Mr. & Mrs. François Xavier Deschenes, August 2, 1941.
“I don’t think my mother ever worked … with fifteen kids she didn’t have the time.”
St. Jean Baptiste Parochial Grammar School, 364 Field Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1970s; the school operated under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph du Puy, a religious order from Haute Loire, France. Lillian graduated from this school in 1942, which had been constructed four years earlier, to replace the old building.
“We went to school at St. Jean’s.”
Lillian’s graduating class from École St. Jean Baptiste, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1942; Lillian is standing in the second row from the front, second from the left. To her right is her brother, Joseph Arthur Albert Deschenes, called “Pete.” Following graduation, she immediately went to work, securing a position at Har-Lee Manufacturing Company, dress manufacturers, 425 Pleasant Street, Fall River.
“I knew I had to go to work to help the family, so.”
A listing for Har-Lee Manufacturing Company, Fall River, Massachusetts, from the Fall River City Directory, 1942 edition, the year Lillian started working there; the firm employed 2200 people in its factory on Pleasant Street.
“I knew I had to go to work to help the family. I just went to work, that was it; I went to work. I was a packer. I was packing dresses … [I was there] for twenty years.”
Lillian posing in a friend’s garden, circa 1943.
Three of Lillian’s brothers depicted in a composite novelty photograph produced during World War II; top: Joseph Albert Octave Deschenes, called “Albert”, United States Navy; bottom left: Joseph Lionel John Deschenes, called “Tommy,” United States Army; bottom right: Joseph Deschenes, called “Joe,” United States Army.
“They were all in the service.”
Lillian’s brother, Joseph Henri Deschenes, called “Henry,” at camp during World War II.
“My brother Henry was in the army.”
Lillian during World War II, wearing one of her brother’s uniform jackets and hat.
“They [were] drafted.”
Lillian in the mid-1940s.
Lillian’s sister, Marie Rita Deschenes, following the Ceremony for Veiling and Profession of Final Vows in the Order of Sisters of Saint Joseph; she received the religious name Sister Marie Xavier. She died at St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Massachusetts, at the age of twenty-six, due to “acute sore throat, with septicemia”; the nuns had attempted to treat her condition in-house, before transferring her to the hospital. She entered the convent at age fourteen, and was teaching at St. Joseph’s Parochial School in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the time of her death.
“She died in 1945 … yeah.”
Lillian parents, Mr. & Mrs. François Xavier Deschenes, on an Easter visit to their daughter, Sister Marie Xavier, at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Convent, New Bedford, Massachusetts, circa early 1940s.
“My sister Rita was the oldest one that was in the convent.”
Lillian, her sisters, and a family friend on an Easter visit to their sister, Sister Marie Xavier, at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Convent, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, circa early 1940s. Standing, left to right: Marie Lillianne (Deschenes) Petrin; Sister Marie Xavier, formerly Marie Rita Deschenes; Marie Gracella Deschenes; Eva Perrault, a family friend. Kneeling, left to right: Marie Alice (Deschenes) Cote; Lillian.
South Main Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, looking south, circa 1940’s.
“I remember going downtown, yeah, with my sisters, we used to go downtown.”
Lillian’s brother, Joseph Arthur Albert Deschenes, called “Pete,” posing in uniform, with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. François Xavier Deschenes, circa 1947.
“Yes, [my mother] used to write to them, yeah. And they would write back to her.”
Lillian, with two of her sisters, outside the family home on Detroit Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1947; the three sisters would later live together in the family home, sharing expenses. Standing, left to right: Marie Gracella Deschenes; Marie Dorille Rita (Deschenes) Roy; Lillian.
“Yeah, there were three of us living here.”
Interior of a Fall River, Massachusetts, bus circa 1940s; Lillian often used this form of transportation to get to the Lincoln Park Ballroom in Westport, Massachusetts, to go dancing.
“We took the bus. I used to go dancing … out there in Lincoln Park. Yeah, it was nice …”
Lillian’s sister, Marie Lillianne Deschenes’s wedding party, April 10, 1948. Left to right: Marie Gracella Deschenes; Irene Petrin, the sister of the groom; Joseph Arthur Albert Deschenes; the bride; George Noel Petrin, the groom; Paul Berube, the best man; Lillian.
Lillian, circa 1950.
A Deschenes family portrait, 1952. Standing, left to right: Lillian’s father, François Xavier Deschenes; her mother, née Albertina Boursier Martin; Lillian; her sisters: Marie Alice (Deschenes) Cote; Sister Mary Albert, formerly Marie Gracella Deschenes; Marie Lillianne (Deschenes) Petrin; Marie Dorille Rita (Deschenes) Roy; Marie Blanche Irene (Deschenes) Bouchard. Seated, left to right: Joseph Albert Octave Deschenes; Joseph Lionel John Deschenes; Marie Anita (Deschenes) Pineau; Joseph Deschenes; Joseph Arthur Albert Deschenes. Lying down: Joseph Henri Deschenes. Lillian’s sister, Gracella, joined the Sisters of St Joseph in 1950 and, as Sister Mary Albert, resided at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Convent, in New Bedford, Massachusetts; she relinquished her vows in 1960.
“Then Grace went in …”
Lillian with her niece, Marie Loretta Deschenes, circa 1955.
“[We] went to New York City, [to] Times Square. I went there with my niece, and we were supposed to go on a radio show … the following day, but we were at the Times Square for so long … that we fell asleep.”
Louis Hand, Inc., sash curtain manufacturers, 847 Pleasant Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1970s; Lillian was employed here for twenty-six years.
“Louis Hand, I was an, an order picker, which means they had bins, and we had to go in a bin and pick up so many curtains and put them in a box. I retired at sixty-two.”
Lillian’s father, François Xavier Deschenes, posing with his daughters on the occasion of his 80th Birthday, June 1962. Four months before this photograph was taken, he had married his second wife, the widowed Kathleen May (Bean) O’Neil; Lillian’s mother had died in 1957 following a stroke. Left to right: Marie Alice (Deschenes) Cote; Lillian; Marie Dorille Rita (Deschenes) Roy. Standing: Marie Anita (Deschenes) Pineau; Marie Lillianne (Deschenes) Petrin; Marie Blanche Irene (Deschenes) Bouchard. Seated, to the right of their father: Marie Gracella Deschenes.
“He remarried five years [after his first wife died] and left the house to … his family.”
Lillian and her sister, Marie Gracella Deschenes, with their Petrin nieces and nephews, December, 1964; they are the children of Mrs. George Noel Petrin, née Marie Lillianne Deschenes. Left to right: Diane Marie Petrin; Marie Gracella Deschenes; Lillian; Claire Marie Petrin; Ronald Arthur Petrin. As young adults, their “Aunt Lil” found them summer jobs at her place of employment, Louis Hand, Inc., sash curtain manufacturers, 847 Pleasant Street, Fall River, Massachusetts.
“I get the work for them.”
Cherry & Webb Company, women’s clothing and misses’ clothing, 139 - 149 South Main Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1940s. Although the upscale store was considered one of the city’s finest, its stock in the early 1970s also included inexpensive first-quality dresses made in Fall River’s garment factories, which were retailed at highly inflated prices.
“It was the same dress that I bought at Arlan’s [of Fall River, department store], but it was twice the money.”
Lillian and her sister, Marie Gracella Deschenes, with their fellow employees at Louis Hand, Inc., sash curtain manufacturers, 847 Pleasant Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, circa 1970s. Lillian is standing in the third row, eight from the left. Her sister, Grace, is standing in the same row, twelfth from the left.
“Grace worked in one office, and I was in the other office.”
Lillian and her fellow employees at her retirement party from Louis Hand, Inc., sash curtain manufacturers, 847 Pleasant Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1988; Lillian is seated at the right, second from the front. Her sister Grace is seated at the right, fourth from front.
“I retired at sixty-two.”
A Deschenes family reunion, held at Blessed Sacrament Church Hall, 2470 South Main Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1995.
Back row, standing left to right: Lillian; her brother, Joseph Henri Deschenes; her sister, Marie Dorille Rita (Deschenes) Roy. Second row, standing, left to right: her sisters, Marie Alice (Deschenes) Cote; Marie Lillianne (Deschenes) Petrin; Marie Anita (Deschenes) Pineau; Marie Gracella Deschenes. Seated: Marie Blanche Irene (Deschenes) Bouchard.
“Now we are just down to my sister [Anita] and I.”
Lillian and her niece, Mrs. John Barry Norfolk, née Claire Marie Petrin, at the Clam Chowder festival in Newport, Rhode Island, 2014; Claire is the family genealogist.
“She knows more than I do.”
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