Désiré d’Eon was born on 2 October 1905. His mother was Lucie Robichaud of Meteghan and his father was Charles à Augustin, son of Mathurin, son of Augustin, son of Abel, son of Jean Baptiste Duon (d’Eon) who settled in Port Royal in 1710.
Désiré grew up in West Pubnico. He attended “Le collège Sainte-Anne” in Church Point, completing his first degree in 1929. He continued his studies at the Normal School of Truro where he studied to become a teacher. During his year in Truro, he was the director in charge of publishing the college yearbook. At the end of his studies he returned to Pubnico to teach at “Le collège Sainte-Anne”. After three years of teaching, he returned to his studies in a university in Washington where he completed his Masters in journalism. Upon his return to Pubnico, the young but tenacious Dérisé launched his newspaper, Le Petit Courrier, in 1937.
Désiré played a significant role in the lives of the Acadians of Southwest Nova Scotia. Le Petit Courrier, his weekly newspaper, was written in a French that was easy to understand and was probably the only source of reading for most of the Acadians in our region. In fact, Désiré wrote most of the stories digitized on this website.
In 1941 and in 1952-53, Désiré d’Eon often needed to take sick leave in a sanitarium because he suffered from tuberculosis.
In 1977, after his retirement, Désiré married Jane-Rose d’Eon-Twomey and moved to the “La Ville de l’Ouest” (Argyle Sound Road).
Désiré passed away on Sunday, 3 November 1996 at home.
Comments