The more the merrier
Granddaughter hoping 100 cards will reach Antoine Babin in time for his birthday
As a postman, Yarmouth County’s Antoine Babin took great joy in delivering birthday cards. Now it’s his turn to receive, as he prepares to celebrate his 100th birthday.
It wasn’t so much about what was inside the birthday cards as it was that they simply arrived.
Many of the 30 or so envelopes were addressed from strangers, wishing Sluice Point’s legendary postman Antoine Babin a joyous 100th birthday.
Each one carried the same symbolic value, affording him the simple pleasure of opening a birthday card. Delivering a birthday card to a child was among the highlights of his 44 years serving some 400 mostly Acadian families on a tiny peninsula as far south as this province reaches.
“The cards are a big thing to him,” said his son, Walter Babin. “So it’s still in the back of his mind. To him, it’s mail. It’s such a big part of his life, right?
“I remember being a boy and we would go together to pick up the mail that was coming into Tusket by train.”
His father is struggling to hold on to his memory.
Kelly Amirault, Antoine’s granddaughter, dreamt up the idea of having 100 birthday cards delivered to his home in time for the centenary celebration on March 28. From her Calgary home, she took to Facebook last week prompting strangers to get in on the action, including her grand-pere’s address.
The cards keep arriving and so far the target number seems reachable. But the more the merrier, figures Amirault, who hasn’t seen her granddad in 15 years.
As a girl growing up near Fredericton, she spent the best summers of her life with her grandparents. When they weren’t playing cards or board games or tinkering with her grandfather’s car, she joined him on the mail run.
“He loved delivering birthday cards to everybody,” she recalled. “He knew everybody on that route. I mean everybody. He always stopped to make a point to say hi, and if they were busy in their yard he would stop and help them.
“He taught me so much about unconditional love and I felt so loved when I was with him. He’s one of those people that when you talk to them, you are the centre of their world.”
Babin was never a full-time public servant. He was on contract with Canada Post and retired without a pension. He saw his work evolve. Starting out, he was charged with picking up the train-delivered mail in Tusket. Back then, each community had a household that served as a post office and Babin was the delivery man. He eventually was tasked with door-to-door delivery all along the peninsula: Amiraults Hill, Hubbards Point, Sluice Point, Surettes Island and Morris Island, among a few others.
“He loved the people,” recalled Walter. “There were 400 some odd families and he knew everybody by name.”
But contract work didn’t cut it for a father of nine children and he found ways to complement his income. He was a lobster fisherman, an Irish peat moss farmer and a used car salesman. He never lost his sense of humour.
“He was always full of jokes. You might see him in a rainstorm with a raincoat on, mowing his lawn. On a good day he’ll still joke about anybody who walks by him.”
What about his secret to longevity?
“He was told years ago by a woman to never stress the small stuff. He took that to heart. He never did. He was more humorous than serious.
“We’re all proud of him. It’s great that Kelly is doing this and people are joining in. He’s picked out a few of his favourite cards. As far as getting into the small personal notes, that doesn’t mean a lot. That fact that people have taken the time to send them does.”
To send Babin a birthday card use the following address: Antoine Babin
Villa St. Joseph du Lac, Milo Unit
255 Hwy 1, Dayton, N.S., B5A 5A1.