Celebrating 97 years of music and joy
June 24th may be known as a day to commemorate our Quebecois identity, but it is also an important day for a very special, very talented woman. Thanks to Wish of a Lifetime Canada, Lois Ogilvie Blanchette will be celebrated in style for her 97th birthday.
“I’m very excited for the party” said the nonagenarian, jokingly adding: “I hope the guests don’t eat all the scones before I get there!”
The Wish of a Lifetime foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to realizing senior folks’ wishes. In Blanchette’s case, a celebration of her life and legacy will be organized at the Uplands Cultural and Heritage Centre.
The foundation, working with the Chartwell Seigneurie Residence where Blanchette lives, “has been just wonderful” according to the soon to be 97-yearold,
“They are working very hard to make this happen,” she added.
Blanchette, for those who don’t know her, is an extremely accomplished and appreciated woman in the Townships. All those who have spoken to her love her spirit and sense of humor. Though the woman is nearing 100 years old, she is bursting with life and bustling with activity.
“I don’t feel it!” she exclaims in regards to her age, and she doesn’t show it either. She has brought so much both musically and culturally to the community.
“I was a violinist at a very young age” explained Blanchette, who dabbles in a bit of everything. She later discovered that she also had a beautiful soprano voice.
She went on to sing in the Toronto Symphony with the Leslie Bell singers, and later, when she moved to Sherbrooke, became a choir director.
“I’ve directed eight different choirs here in the Townships,” said Blanchette. This includes the choir she formed out of student nurses when she was a volunteer at the Argyle Hospital and the famous Golden Slippers, otherwise know as Les Souliers Dorés.
“It was marvellous,” she sighed. “It was from the heart and I loved it. I loved it even more than I loved playing the violin or singing.”
Besides her musical career, Jasmine Vojdani, wish manager at the Wish of a Lifetime foundation, wanted to celebrate her cultural work as well. She commented:
“Lois is an incredible woman; very sweet. She has a beautiful career that we wanted to share with the community. At the same time, her birthday coincides with celebrating our heritage,” she said, referring to the 150th anniversary of Canada, 375th anniversary of Montreal and the Fete Nationale all occurring near the day of the party. “She worked very hard for the patrimony of Canada. She’s very cultivated, very passionate. She’s a lovely woman with lots of humour.”
Indeed, one of Blanchette’s passions has been to link together the Anglophone and Francophone communities in her entourage.
“It has been very close to my heart,” she said, being perfectly bilingual herself. “Canada is a good example of how two groups that, historically, don’t get along can come together and form a nice twosome. We are knit together like a sweater, the English and the French here in the Townships. A lovely, comforting and warm sweater.”
For her work facilitating the fraternity between these two groups, Blanchette has won numerous awards including the Queen’s Anniversary Medal and the Beta Sigma Phi Lifetime Award.
“That’s where I learned to knit the sweater, as it were,” laughed Blanchette, reminiscing about her time in the sorority. “It was grand, absolutely grand,” she said, explaining the meaning of the name.
“Beta means life. Sigma means learning. And Phi means friendship.” That’s exactly what they did, Blanchette added. “We became friends for life.”
Blanchette is looking forward to her party, and hopes to see many people of the community there. However, she confided that she has another wish.
Blanchette, besides her many other talents, also writes songs. Recently, she has used all of her musical prowess to write a beautiful piece that she dearly wishes for Celine Dion, a woman that she has a lot of admiration for, to sing.
“Unfortunately, the foundation wasn’t able to fulfill that one” Blanchette said, a little disappointed but not without hope. “You never know though! I engineered the song to work both musically and vocally for her. It would really be quite beautiful.”
Here’s to hoping that Dion gets wind of Blanchette’s talents. The pairing would be an amazing one to see without a doubt.
The festivities for Blanchette’s birthday begin at 1:30 p.m. continuing until 4 p.m. As a treat, there will also be a short musical performance at 2 p.m.
Don’t miss the opportunity to meet this wonderful lady and get a glimpse of all of that she has accomplished in her long life.