There has been an outpouring of love and fond memories for the Rev. Ubald Duchesneau after word spread of his passing on Saturday Aug. 28 after a long illness. He was 87.
Known affectionately as Father Duck (after his duck-tailed hairstyle), the Oblate missionary leaves behind a legion of devoted admirers and a legacy of song and respect in the community.
Born in St. Paul on April 13, 1923, he was 19 years old when he entered the Novitiate of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate of St. Laurent, Man. before being ordained a priest at Edmonton’s Collège Saint-Jean in June 1949. He pursued his university studies in Ottawa and Laval, as well as in Europe at the Lumen Vitae in Belgium and at the Institut Catholique de Paris. He was a teacher and professor at the Collège St. Jean and in Hobbema before moving to St. Albert in 1964 to become a vicar at the St. Albert Parish and teach at St. Albert Catholic High School. For his services to the community and dedication to youth, he was named as St. Albert’s Citizen of the Year in 1971. In 1981 he became a lecturer at the University of Alberta.
While he dedicated the last two decades to teaching pastoral biblical theology, hundreds in the community remember him as the organizer of five youth groups in the 1970s including Movers and Community Youth Volunteers as well as three very influential musical ones: the St. Albert High Singers, PITCH (People in the Crowd Harmonizing) and SPICE (Spreading Peace in Crowds Everywhere). Under his wing, these three groups toured the country, recorded albums, played with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and forged bonds and memories that have lasted to this day. Many remember him as a protector and a gentle leader, the source of much of the stability and maturity during their formative years. They call him more than a priest and an educator — they call him a friend.
Melanie LeClair is one such person. She says he did more than inspire her in music and in life.
“He also helped keep us off the street with the many practices we had. Though we bemoaned them at the time, in hindsight I believe many of us are grateful. We always had to work as a group and look out for each other. A few have said, ‘We were the Glee of the ‘70s.’ I will never forget him and the gifts he gave of himself so freely. He was the true meaning of a man who loves God. He was a great example of a great man. I am a better person for knowing him.”
Mary-Lou Drachenberg shares that sentiment. Now a teacher herself, she recalls being in Grades 7 to 12 and how instrumental he was to her growth as a person.
“It was more than just a choir. We learned about leadership. We learned to take care of each other. We learned about volunteering. It wasn’t necessarily that you had to be the best thing. You just had to give your time and commitment. In many ways his influence on the greater population of teenagers in St. Albert at the time … he probably saved a lot of kids from getting in a lot of trouble,” she laughed.
That doesn’t mean he was exempt from his own trouble. Former resident Peter Morris shared a humorous anecdote about Duchesneau’s brief run-in with the law when he was caught speeding.
“After pulling over, he took his collar from the glove box of the vehicle and put it on just before the officer came up to the window and without looking at Father Duck, asked where the funeral was that he was in such a rush. Turning to the police officer, with his collar on, he said that it wasn’t a funeral he was rushing to but an ordination. The embarrassed officer let him off with a warning as they both laughed at the situation.”
Father Duchesneau is survived by the members of his religious community, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate; his sister ThĂ©rèse as well as nieces, nephews and many friends. He was predeceased by his parents, Edmond and Lenora Duchesneau (nĂ©e Lamothe), brothers Laurent and Marcel and sister Irene.
RĂ©v. Maurice Joly OMI will preside over a Mass of Resurrection at 11 a.m. on Monday at St. Albert Parish. A graveside service and interment prayers will follow the next day at 10 a.m. at the St. Albert Catholic Cemetery.
