ROSAIRE BOUCHER
Joseph and Olive Amiot 50th Wedding Anniversary.
Joseph was born in 1881 the 3rd of 13 children. Joseph was
on ly 17 years old when his father died . He stayed home until
1904 when he married Olive Fortier. Joseph and Olive farmed
one year about five miles east of Gentilly . Delia was born
there. Then we moved to four miles east of Crookston on Section 2 of Fairfax Township. We went to St. Anne's Catholic
church during those seven years. Theodore was born in 1907
and Arthur in 1908. Then we moved one mile east of here on
Section I. Theodore and I started school. I t was lucky for us
that Edith Duval, the teacher, spoke French as we knew no
English. Olivine was born here in 1913. During this year,
father purchased a quarter of land, brush and trees, on Section
II. Crookston Township. Fall of 1913, we moved to Section
14. We built a granary that fall and a barn in February. In
March we moved into the granary a nd into the new house in
July. Napoleon was born there in 1916, and in the hot dry summer of 1923 Ann was born. There was lots of hard work to
clear the land. We always had horses, cattle, hogs and chickens. Raised most of our food. We attended St. Peter's Church
in Gentilly. We all graduated the eighth grade at District 255.
Many of the teacher lived at our home. Our father was on the
school board for many years and treasurer for the Catholic
Order of Foresters for 25 years. April 1931 , Delia married
George Donahue . They bought their farm in Section 17 of
Crookston Township in 1939. They have two children , Doroth y and Lawrence. Theodore (Ted) married Dora Plante ,
October 1931. They purchased their farm in Section 12 in
1945. They have two children, Jean and Donald. Ted was on
the Township Board since 1951. He also served as A.S.e.
Committeeman twenty-nine years, crop reporter twenty-eight
years, Gen tilly Fire Insurance Board since 1946, Crookston
Farmers Elevator Board for fifteen years.
Arthur (Art) married Jeannette Dufault August of 1940.
They bought her father's farm, Section 4 of Fairfax Township.
Art's been record ing secretary of the Catholic Order of Foresters for thirteen years, crop reporter for twelve years, Director
of Farmers Union Oil for twelve years, on the school board for
twelve years, and a member of Gentilly Fire Insurance and
Waseco Insurance Company. He has two children, Janet and
Roger.
Olivine married Henry Keller September 1936. They have
six children: Joan, Rosalie , David, Ronald , Richard and
Keith. Napoleon married Alexina Tougas October 1937 in
Brooks. They bought his parents' farm in 1945, stayed with
them that summer while folks built a home on Ash Street in
Crookston. Napoleon has been Financial Secretary of the
Catholic Order of Foresters since 1945, been employed at the
U.M.e. since 1958. This year, his son Regis and wife purchased the home place, making the third generation owning it.
Napoleon is building a home in Crookston. They have five
children: Robe rt, Pauline, Monica, Regis and Mark . Ann married Leo Keller June 1941, they bought their farm on Section
15, Crookston Township, and farmed until 1963, when they
moved into town where he has been working for the sisters of
Mount St. Benedict. They have three children : Joseph, Alice
and Bonnie. Ann passed away in July 1967. There are now
thirty-nine grandchildren.
Rosaire Boucher was born August 28, 1915 at Crookston.
He is th e son of the late Wilfred Boucher and Pamelia Riopelle. His brothers and sisters are Donald (deceased), Robert,
Lorraine (Mrs. Walter Holm), and Valeri.an of Crookston, and
Yvonne (Mrs. Clayton Paulson) of Grand Forks.
His paternal grandparents were Jules Boucher and wife
(Denise Farley) who came from Quebec, Canada, and homesteaded in Lowell Township, south of Crookston in 1863.
His ma ternal grandparents were Delphis Riopelle and wife
(Euginie Beaudion) and they also were of French heritage
from Quebec, Canada. The Riopelles settled on a farm just
three miles north of Crookston. Rosaire purchased this farm in
1938 when his 'Grandma Ri opelle's estate was settled, and after
his marriage to Alice Capistran on June 21 , 1939, he moved to
this farm where they still reside and farm .
Miss Capistran is the daughter of the late Ben Capistran and
wife (Annie Conneran). Her grandparents were also early settlers in Polk County.
Her paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Onisime Capistran, came from Sorel, Quebec in Canada in 1883 and settled
on a farm four miles west of Crookston on the "Old River
Road" on the north side of town where they farmed . They
lived in a log house at that time.
Her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. John Conneran
Sr., came from Ireland . They came to Polk County in 1879 and
settled on a farm about six miles southwest of Fisher and also
lived in a log house at first. He was a well-known farmer in the
Fisher area.
The Rosaire Bouchers have five children: Gayle (Mrs.
Edward G . Kline) born May 21 , 1940, graduated from College
of St. Benedict. Worked as a Social Worker in Polk County
and later in Hennepin County. Married in 1964 to Edward
(Ted) Kline of Williston, North Dakota who is presently assistant vice-president in Trust Equity Research Division in First
National Bank of Minneapolis. They live in Wayzata, Minnesota and have one son, David John, born January 18, 1966.
Deane, born September 29, 1941. He was a member of Boy
Scouts Troop 42 of Lake Agassiz Council and became an
Eagle Scout in 1957 and attended the National Boy Scout
Jamboree in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania . He attended Wahpeton State School of Science and joined the National Guard in
1962 and had basic training at Fort Polk Louisiana. He was a
member of Company C, 2nd B.G. 136th Infantry at Crookston
until 1968. He was married to Elaine DeHaan in 1967 and they
have three sons, Michael, Shane and John. He is engaged in
farming and has also been the Polaris Snowmobile Dealer in
Crookston since 1970.
Kathleen (Mrs. Randall Sautter) born September 14, 1948.
She graduated from St. Francis School of Practical Nursing in
Crookston in 1967. She worked as LPN in Twin Cities and
married in 1973 to Randall Sautter of Carlisle, Iowa. In 1975
they moved to Crookston where her husband is associated
with Rosaire and Deane in farming and she is employed as
LPN at Glenmore Foundation in Crookston. Bonnie (Mrs.
Allen Brost) born October 8, 1951. She graduated from Bemidji State College with an Associate of Arts Degree in Secretarial Science in 1971. She worked as secretary for a law firm in
Bemidji for one year before moving back to Crookston where
she worked as secretary for the Research Staff of the Northwest Experiment Station branch of the University of Minnesota for three and a half years. Married Allen Brost of Crookston in 1972 who is vice-president of Brost Chevrolet, Inc.
They have one son, Eric Allen, born November 18, 1975.
Mary, student, born September 10, 1954. She attended College
of St. Benedict one year and is presently enrolled at the University of Minnesota Technical College in Crookston majoring
in Sales and Marketing.
Rosaire Boucher is known as a successful, enterprising
farmer and has served on many boards and committees. He is
presently on the Crookston Township townboard and the
Crookston Grain Company board of directors.
Rosaire was appointed a member of the Governor's Farm
and Migratory Labor Advisory Committee for the State of
Minnesota in 1955 and was sent as a representative from Minnesota to Washin gton. D.e. in 1957 and again in 1958 to the
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