Biographie Desbarats Edward

Fourni par Christian Scott, ID 16663

Georgeville's Edward Desbarats
At 84, life begins today
GEORGEVILLE- Edward W. Desbarats is 84 years old. A former First World War fighter pilot, ex-prisoner-of-war, father, grandfather, gardener, sailor, harpsichord-maker - and still going strong. Asked the secret of his almost nonstop energy, he says it's "daily calisthenics, positive mental attitude and above all, never give in."

He feels that most days do not have enough hours for all the things he has to do. In the spring, he puts in his vegetable garden and from then on tends it daily. His spectacular rose hedge, a must-see for visitors, has been known to bloom into November.

Summer is the time for visits with his children and his nine grandchildren. The entire family shares an enormous love of sailing. He owns a 20-foot Kingfisher cruising sloop which sleeps four, and on board, Mr. Desbarats is still very much the skipper.

In the fall, he freezes and cans the vegetables not eaten during the summer. Winter days are filled with more tranquil pastimes. A time to catch up with the literally hundreds of books that fill his home. A time to play the piano, which he does daily, and to take at least two walks even in the most severe weather.

At age 72, he built his first harpsichord. When asked how this came about, he said simply, "my daughter, Mary Louise asked me to." He built another for his son, Guy, and sold two others. To build a harpsichord, one needs skill, infinite patience, and a dry place to work. The last was missing in the Georgeville house. Inflation was another factor for discontinuing. In 1969, a kit cost $150, but by 1978 the same kit cost well over a thousand dollars.

Mr. Desbarats first came to Georgeville in 1912 with his parents, brothers, and sisters. They stayed at the Tuck Cottage, which often took the overflow from Cedar Cliffs Boarding House run by Mrs. Grace Heath. The cottage burned in 1957 but was later rebuilt. In 1972, Mr. Desbarats bought this house, 60 years after his first visit.

Born in Montreal in 1895 of a Scottish mother and a French-Canadian father whose direct line can be traced back to 1670, he attended Loyola College and McGill University where he joined the C.O.T.C.

In 1915, he was accepted into the Victoria Rifles. He developed a burning desire to fly and was able to transfer to the Royal Naval Air Service. To the best of his knowledge, he was the only Canadian of a bilingual Quebec family who fought in this service in France. On September 22, 1917, he was shot down east of Passchendaele and taken prisoner. He was brought to the infamous Holzminden camp. Several well-known books have been written about the famous tunnel dug by the prisoners in that camp. In the spring of 1918, there was a mass escape of over fifty men, nearly half of them making their way safely to Holland. He was next moved to Schweidnitz in Silesia where conditions were more tolerable and remained there until his release in December 1918.

On his return to Canada, he went to work in the Desbarats Advertising Agency. In May 1920, he married Marie Jobin, granddaughter of an 1837 patriot. She lived until 1965. Their children grew up in Beaurepaire on the bank of Lac St. Louis. The boys worked on nearby farms and their favorite sports were sailing and fishing. He and his wife headed up the Red Cross for the entire Lakeshore area for more than twenty years.

His general health is good. Two years ago, he suffered a heart attack which concerned everyone but Mr. Desbarats. He admits that it did slow him down for almost three months. He eats sensibly, smokes several pipes a day, enjoys an aperitif before lunch and dinner, and wine with his meals.

He is concerned with the breakdown of family units. He feels that material pleasures can now be bought as opposed to former years when collective imagination was the source of family enjoyment. He declines to comment on the so-called 'New Morality' except to say that one must go with the times.

Asked if he's content with his life, he says he enjoys the security and serenity of living in a small community, talking to neighbors and going on with his projects. Every March he flies to Holland to visit his daughter and help plant her garden, then returns home to start yet another cycle.

For Mr. Desbarats, life does not begin at any particular age. Life begins today.