Bill Ladoucer was a lovable free spirit who preferred not to
work for his keep on PK Smith’s farm
Gerald Nadeau, Transcript (February 2008)
“Bill was one of the most liked people in the Valley because of
his good nature and because of the product he produced. You
couldn’t have him as an enemy because you couldn’t afford to
drink whiskey other than what was given to you. So I guess that
made Bill a popular fella. Well, he came from the Ladoucer farm,
but he never worked and he never… He would work on the drive
maybe for a short period of time and he found that he could live
by his small income. And he seemed to want to live a life like
all of us would really want. He wasn’t tied down to anything, he
just lived from day to day or year to year. Bill never owned
anything that I have ever heard of. And I believe it was his
choice because I don’t think he would have paid taxes on
anything because he never seemed to earn much so he didn’t spend
much.
Although Smith wanted him to work for him, he seemed to admire his free way of
living, because in a sense I think Smith wanted a part of that himself. Because
he never said anything hurting about Bill Ladoucer. He always spoke well of him,
but always let you know that his opinion of him, that he was a free living
person that wouldn’t be nailed down to a job anytime. I think that’s about all I
could say about Bill Ladoucer.”
Bill Ladoucer and his brothers had an interesting
experience at the Sheenboro dances
Gerald Nadeau, Transcript (February 2008)
“And they said there was quite a number of boys [in the Ladoucer family] and
they would go to Sheenboro to dances and they only had one suit. And each one
would go in, put the suit on, go in, dance for a time, come back out, and the
second guy would put the suit on, go in… And the only thing that you noticed
different was, some were shorter than others so the suit had to be… the legs had
to be rolled up in order for the … [laughter] But, I guess it didn’t do them any
good because none of them ever married Sheen girls, so I guess the suit never
was… never was [laughter]. Oh my god, you’d better stop that Liz, or this is
gonna get funny [laughter].”