20. Aline Arsenault Poirier

Aline was born in the middle of the summer, on 21 July 1923. She is the only member of the family who was able to study up to grade 10 at the small Maximeville school. Wanting to become a teacher, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown for one year where she obtained her Second Class Teacher's License in 1939. She roomed at the Notre Dame Convent where she did some work in the kitchen to help pay her board. Her brothers joined together to buy her books while her sister Emily, who at the time was working in Montreal, helped pay many of her expenses.

After graduating, Aline taught school for one year in St. Chrysostome and then left the Island to work with her sister Dorothy at Northern Electric in Montreal where she earned much more than the $35 a month she made teaching on the Island. After three years in Montreal, she was glad to return home as she did not like the big city. Back on the Island, she obtained a teaching position in Cape Egmont where she stayed for one year. After her marriage Aline taught one more year, this time in Mont Carmel.

The Poirier Family in 1996. Standing, from left to right: Martin, Jean-Paul, Claudette, Lionel, Albin, Simonne, Simon. Sitting: Aline and Ulric.

-75-