GUILDERLAND — Marie Jeanne Beliveau, matriarch of the Beliveau family, was raised as a single child in Canada before eventually settling on a Guilderland farm. “Her dream,” her family wrote in a tribute, “was to have children — lots of them. God was good to her and blessed her with ten!”

She “passed into heaven after a blessed 94 years on this Earth on April 15, 2015,” her family wrote. “Mimi, as she was known by her 17 grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren, was loved and admired; and she was often sought for advice and cheerful consultation.” 

This is how her family told Mrs. Beliveau’s story:

Born on July 11, 1920 in the small town of Danville in the Province of Quebec, Canada, Mrs. Beliveau was orphaned at the age of 2 when her mother, Anna Rivard, suddenly died of pneumonia after childbirth.  Her baby brother, Philippe, was taken in by a neighboring family and she was taken in by her relatives, Alcide and Lucie Boisvert. Mrs. Beliveau would always refer to them as her mother and father.

Her biological father, Nestor Gouin, hitched up his team of horses and travelled west to Saskatchewan with his two sons, Georges and Laurent, in a covered wagon. Mrs. Beliveau was eventually reunited with her brothers and father later in her life.

She was educated in the one-room schoolhouse that was within sight of her home.  Her parents encouraged her to continue her education and sent her to Ste Ursula Normal School in Ste Ursula, Quebec.  She referred to this time of her youth as being in the convent.  She graduated and was employed as the teacher in the very same one-room schoolhouse she attended as a child.

As a young woman, she was often solicited to act in the local village plays.  She would sometimes refer to herself as an actress when joking with her children.  Her aspirations as an actress soon halted when she started to date her future husband, Leo Beliveau.  He would often play his guitar and fiddle with the locals in small taverns in and around Danville.   And so, he, too, put his aspirations aside and trained to become a tool and die maker in Montreal. 

In 1941, Marie Jeanne and Leo Beliveau were married and moved to Montreal on Hadley Street in the old part of the city.  Four children later, they purchased a small tavern in St. Stanislas de Kostka, just north of the United States border. 

In 1959, they immigrated to the United States, now with eight children, and purchased a mobile home park in Schodack, New York. Two more children would be born in the United States, and, in 1967, they purchased a farm on Old State Road in the town of Guilderland.  Her loving husband of 59 years died in 2000.

Marie Jeanne was a faithful member of St. Madeline Sophie Church and the Faith Sharing Group.  In recent years, she has been a member of St. Lucy-St. Bernadette Church in Altamont. 

“Her unconditional love,” her family wrote, “guaranteed that she would be surrounded by her entire family and many friends.”

 ***

Marie Jeanne Beliveau is survived by her children, Pierrette Barnoski, Pierre Beliveau and his wife, Melinda, Omer Beliveau and his wife, Brenda, Denise Hadley and her husband, Gene, Helen Lasher and her husband, Ronald, Marie Viscio and her husband, Nicholas, Andre Beliveau and his wife, Yvonne, Daniel Beliveau and his wife, Linda, Michelle Masi and her husband, James; 16 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

Her loving husband, Leo Beliveau, died before her, as did her daughter Louise Guagliardi, and her granddaughter Denise Barnoski. 

Calling hours will be held Thursday, April 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Fredendall Funeral Home at 199 Main Street in Altamont. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Lucy’s-St. Bernadette Church at 109 Grand Street in Altamont on Friday, April 24, at 3 p.m. 

Memorial contributions may be made to The Community Hospice of Albany County, 445 New Karner Rd., Albany, NY 12205 or to St Lucy’s- St Bernadette Church, 109 Grand St. Altamont, NY 12009.