Jules and Raymonde Manaigre love their hometown of St. Adolphe for its quiet, peaceful, and friendly qualities. When they moved here in 1969, they were surrounded by wheat fields and summer breezes. The parish on Main Street was the hub of community activity and there were plenty of ways to get involved in village life.
“When we first moved here, Jules was with the Knights of Columbus… and I was with the Catholic Women’s League,” says Raymonde.
It was the perfect way to make new friends and feel like you belonged. Now, fifty years later, the couple is still invested in making the community a great place to live. Seven years ago, with the help of friends, the couple founded the St. Adolphe Forever Young Dance Club.
“We used to go dancing in different towns,” Raymonde says. “Denise and Romeo Belisle were with us and we said, ‘Maybe we should start one in St. Adolphe,’ so it went from there.”
The Pioneer Hall heats up eight times a year now with live local bands and old-time dances. Fun-seekers drive in from Winnipeg and many rural communities around Manitoba to shake up the dance floor with waltzes, polkas, and good old-fashioned square dancing.
“[Everyone’s about] our age,” says Jules. “Some older, some younger.”
And at 76 and 73 years of age, that’s saying something about these young-at-heart souls. The Manaigres’ hope, though, is that younger generations will see the value in these community events and get back in touch with their Metis roots through dancing.
Many of the local bands hired have a distinctly Metis sound with fiddles and vocals and square dance callers.
“We have good bands,” Jules says. “The best!”
At any given event, the couple says they average between 120 to 150 attendees. The $15 cover fee amply takes care of the hall rental and cost of the luncheon Raymonde and a few other senior ladies prepare beforehand. Twenty percent of the funds raised go back to the Pioneer Hall for ongoing renovations.
Thanks to the Forever Young Club and grants that Jules has applied for, they’ve been able to put in new flooring, blinds, ceiling, and paint. Currently, they hope to recover the cloth chairs and then begin renovations on the canteen, coat room, and bar.
Funds from the dances also help the community in other ways. After their May event, they were able to donate $1100 toward upkeep at the cemetery, including the purchase of a new riding mower.
But without help from a new generation of volunteers, things like this may soon become a thing of the past.
The community’s annual fall supper is another long-standing tradition the couple has been actively involved in over the years. Proceeds from the supper are integral to the maintenance of the St. Adolphe parish, but as church attendance declines, so do the volunteers.
“It’s always the same group [volunteering],” she Raymonde, suggesting that most everyone on these committees are in their mid-seventies or older.
As long as they’re capable, the Manaigres hope to keep the dance scene alive and kicking in St. Adolphe.
“When I was a teenager, that was our social [outlet],” says Raymonde. “We’d go to the hall and the girls would sit on one side and the guys would sit on the other… There was a lot more girls than there were guys, so we learned to dance with each other.”
It’s no surprise then to discover that the couple first met 55 years ago at a dance in St. Boniface.
“That’s where all the single people would go to meet,” says Raymonde. “We were sitting at the same table and there was paper on the table, so we were writing little notes and I sent one across.”
And the rest is history. They married in 1966 and moved to St. Adolphe after a brief time in Winnipeg. Here, they raised their son Paul and daughter Suzanne. They summered at their cottage in Buffalo Point and curled at the local rink in the winter months. Jules enjoyed a few years playing senior hockey. Today, they have four grandchildren ranging in age from 10 to 18.
Jules was born and raised in Fort Frances, Ontario. He moved to Manitoba as a young adult to be closer to his sisters and find work in the construction industry. For most of his career, he operated an excavator for a Winnipeg company, installing sewer and water infrastructure.
At 76, he’s only partially retired. The backhoe he keeps in the garage still provides him with part-time work doing private jobs in the summer months and clearing snow in the winter. After a fresh snowfall, he rises at 4:00 a.m. so that residents can get to work on time.
During the 1997 flood, Jules was one of the few residents who remained in the community to operate heavy equipment alongside the military that had arrived to carry out flood assistance.
Raymonde grew up in St. Jean Baptiste but moved to Winnipeg after graduation to pursue an education in accounting. She worked at Great West Life until her first child was born, then happily took on her new role as a mother and community champion.
The couple both grew up on family farms and were no strangers to hard work and little play. They’re also keenly aware of how their lives were changed for the better by the great-grandparents who came before them.
“Land was very scarce in the province of Quebec and a few of the seniors came to Manitoba to see what was available,” says Raymonde of her great-grandfather’s arrival in this province.
In the case of both of their forefathers, a 40-acre square of land was provided to begin their farm livelihoods. But Raymonde says it was mostly bush and full of stones, requiring hard labour to make it productive.
“The men came first and they built little huts and lived in there,” Raymonde says. “There might have been one or two ladies that came along to cook and clean.”
That was how many immigrant farmers got their start so many years ago. Thanks to their perseverance, couples like the Manaigres have been able to enjoy the fruits of that hard work.
Having built their own long-time home in St. Adolphe, Jules and Raymonde don’t look forward to leaving. Before too long, they hope the community will invest in seniors housing so they can continue to live out their retirement in their beloved hometown.
