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| Gravestone, as found in basement on Laval * |
By Rachel Muston
You never know what you’ll find in the basement when you take possession of a house. We found all the usual things when we moved into our house on Laval Street: old cans of paint, spare bathroom tiles, gardening pots. We also found one thing we weren’t expecting. A gravestone. We didn’t notice it at first, but one day I saw two jars of pickled beans sitting in a corner of the basement, and when I lifted them up, I discovered that the solid piece of stone they were standing on was a grave stone. The inscription read:
R. Larabie
1935-1960
So, I did what any normal person would do. I put the pickles back in their place, backed away slowly and left it alone.
It has been 10 years since we moved in and the stone is still there. Recently, we had to do some renovations in the basement, so we removed the pickles but the stone is still in its place. This is partly because of the stone's weight, and partly because it seems unlucky to move it! But lately, feeling more and more curious as to who R. Larabie was and how this gravestone ended up in our basement, I decided to do some research.
What I know for sure is that there were no Larabies living in my house during the period that R. Larabie died. In fact I have not found a single Larabie that ever lived at my house. I did however find out that during the period of 1956-61, Hector Paquette operated the Paquette School of Driving out of my house!
While there weren’t any Larabies living in my house, there were certainly a number of Larabies living in Vanier area in the late 1950s-early 60s. There were even a few R. Larabies: brothers Roland and Romeo Larabie, plastering contracters who lived on Monfort, Raymond who was also a plasterer, and lived on Mona, Roger who lived on Carillon and Robert E Larabie who worked as a truck driver lived on King George (just south of Vanier).
However, none of them seem to have any connection to my house and while I wasn’t able to find birth and/or death dates for all those R. Larabies, those that I did find, did not match the dates on my gravestone.
Along the way I learned of some tragic stories about R. Larabies (because, of course, the tragedies are what end up in the newspaper).
First is Robert Donald Earl Larabie. Robert was born in Ottawa to Paul Larabie and Christina Mulligan on May 16, 1920. He was in the navy as a young man and his 1947 shore leave card indicates that at that time he was living at 432 Lyon Street in Ottawa. By the late 1950s, Robert was a driver for Maverty Films of Toronto and living at 347 King George Street, in Overbrook (just below what was then Eastview). Tragically, on the morning of December 21 1961, Robert’s truck was involved in an accident just outside Brockville. Robert passed away and left behind his wife Muriel and six children between the ages of 2-19 (Carol, Bob, Myra, Russell, Ellen and Cory). Robert is buried at Beechwood Cemetery.
Next, I learned about young Rose Larabie. She was also born in 1920 and was living at 43 St. Joseph Street at the time of her untimely death in 1929. On the evening of March 31, she was attempting to light an oil heater with gasoline when her clothing caught fire. She ran out into the street (to the intersection of St. Patrick and St. Joseph) where a passerby put out the flames with his overcoat. Sadly she passed away at the Ottawa Hospital after ‘gallant attempts to save her life’ were made.
Feeling a bit stumped, I put down the research for a bit. But I came back to it lately and began searching through gravemarker galleries such as the excellent Rootsweb.ancestry.com, and Canadianheadstones.com.
In doing so I found a number of R. Larabies buried in Ottawa, and low and behold, one who just might fit the bill! Rhéal Larabie was born in 1935 and died in 1960. He was the husband of Claire Maheux (1939- blank), and the brother-in-law to Rita Maheux (1920-1995) who was married to Herman Hart 1917-1997. However I haven’t been able to find any connection from Rhéal, Claire, Rita or Herman, to my house on Laval, or any more details about Rhéal who obviously died much too young at the age of 25. Rhéal is buried in the Notre Dame Cemetery in Vanier, although interestingly I did not see his name when searching through the city directories looking for R. Larabie’s in Vanier.
Of course if it is Rheal’s gravestone in my basement, it still doesn’t explain why it is there. Was it made and then decided that a bigger stone would be more appropriate? Was it done by a stone mason testing his skills on a small stone before working on a larger stone? Or was it inscribed incorrectly and the stone mason or a family member took the stone home?
There is still a lot I don’t know. But what I do know is that for now, the gravestone is staying just where it is at the bottom of the stairs in the basement on Laval Street.
* The gravestone shows signs of deterioration due to vinegar. Lesson learned: Don't leave pickled beans on a gravestone (Photo: Rachel Muston)