Florine Després at 105:
Music and friends fill her life
Margaret Patricia Eaton
Florine Després’ room is filled with
flowers from friends, colleagues
and former students marking her
105th birthday on October 12th,
while photographs document her
achievements. There were five Lincoln
Trophies won by choirs she directed;
honorary doctorates from l’Université
de Moncton (1981) and Mount Allison
(1984), and the Chevalier medal
awarded her by l’Ordre française des
arts et des lettres (1990).
But those prestigious awards tell only
half of Florine’s story. The other half
is of a warm, vibrant personality who
draws people to her. When I visited,
her friend, retired U de M professor
Yolande LeBlanc, mother of Florine’s
goddaughter Marie-Josée; former
student Martin Waltz, retired head of
the music department at U de M and
Holly Waltz, who, as an elementary
music teacher followed programs
developed by Florine for NB public
schools, were also visiting. There
ensued a lively conversation, with
Florine calling Yolande her guardian
angel and Martin teasing his teacher.
“It was fun,” he recalls. “We used to
argue about this or that note in a choral
arrangement and she loved it. She
was great. She was my first teacher in
advanced theory and one of the reasons
I specialized in it.”
The youngest of 13, Florine was born
in Cocagne, and studied music at St.
Joseph’s, Mount Allison, l’École de
musique Vincent d’Indy de Montréal
and Laval where she earned a specialty
diploma in Gregorian chant — her
favourite music. When Florine was
Retired Université de Moncton music and
education professor Florine Deprés
celebrated her 105th birthday on October 12th.
Photo : MARGARET PATRICIA EATON
95, Martin, then director of the Neil
Michaud Choir, brought her in to coach
nuance and phrasing prior to the choir’s
Vatican performance. Says Holly, “She
had those guys sitting on the edge of
their chairs, listening, and they did
what she told them.”
In 1949, as Sr. Lucienne, (Notre-
Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur), she and Sr.
Adolphine, (Élodie LeBlanc), founded
the School of Music at Notre-Dame-
d’Acadie, where she taught piano and
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directed the award-winning chorale,
setting the standard for choirs which
followed. In 1968 she left the order
and became a professor at U de M
in both the faculties of music and
education until she retired in 1982. So
well-respected was she that the music
room in the Jeanne- de- Valois Faculté
des Sciences de l’Éducation is named for
her.
“I remember Florine was a real
presence in the music department
and what I appreciated was that her
door was always open, and she was
so accessible,” Holly says. “So many
who studied with her went on to be
professionals, like opera singer Chantal
Dionne and pop singer Lina Boudreau.”
“You can tell she was appreciated,”
adds Yolande, “by the number who
came to the 50th anniversary of the
music department last month, especially
to see her — violinist Monique
Girouard and Judge Jolène Richard.”
Florine says there are so many
wonderful memories — friends, choirs,
students — that she can’t choose one
highlight. “Music was my life,” she
says. And to what does she attribute
her good health and longevity? “We
have to stop worrying. There’s no use
worrying over things that we don’t
know will ever happen.”
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