Pursuing Wisdom

Denis Leveille,

Description

Pursuing Wisdom chronicles Dr. Denis Leveille’s rich and varied experiences, and offers valuable life lessons learned along the way. He describes entering into marriage at a young age, and moving to a foreign country, rife with political and social upheaval and criminal events, which left him and his wife feeling alienated. Being drafted during the Vietnam War was another game changer, and working for the U.S. government as a civilian was sometimes perplexing. And then there is retirement, which can be adaptable to some and devastating to others. Inspired by Clint Eastwood, Denis offers the truth as he sees it—the good, the bad, and the ugly—in this riveting memoir. 

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Military
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 23 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977264237
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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Pursuing Wisdom All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 Denis Leveille, Ph.D. v13.0
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com
ISBN: 978-1-9772-6423-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916569
Cover Photo © 2023 Steve Hunsicker. All rights reserved - used with permission.
Outskirts Press and the "OP" logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To my wife Patricia Marie,
my one and only love and
the mother of our three sons
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Eastview and My Predecessors
Chapter 2: My Early Years in Eastview
Chapter 3: My Parents’ Kids
Chapter 4: My Children and Parents
Chapter 5: Return to Canada
Chapter 6: United States Air Force
Chapter 7: Changing My Nationality
Chapter 8: Earning My Ph.D.
Chapter 9: West Germany ’83-’87
Chapter 10: My Life Changes
Chapter 11: Other Positions I Have Held
Chapter 12: Visiting a Son in Benin, 1999
Chapter 13: Private Practice (1987–2020)
Chapter 14: Miscellany
Chapter 15: Lessons Learned
Chapter 16: Final Thoughts
References/Sources
Introduction
We are all born, we all live, and eventually we all will die. That’s it! Virtually no one remembers being born. In fact, few remember anything before the age of two or three. Some go as far as to say that our earliest memories may be fabricated. Even our memories of our own lives after childhood can be unreliable or selective. (1)
Not infrequently, those who have shared our lives can remind us of events that we have forgotten or do not want to remember. As for dying, the process often brings suffering and decreasing independence, but the fortunate are allowed to die with respect and a minimum of pain ( 1 ).
My sister-in-law, Karen, died on March 2 nd , 2022, and she knew she was going to die. I wonder how much she remembered about her childhood before she died. I do know that my wife and her other sister, Sandy, took very good care of her and all her needs while she was in hospice care. Karen died while living at our home. The Catholic priest had a very good sermon at church which really touched my heart about Karen.
Having turned seventy-six years old, I am well aware that I already have lived most of my life, and, before I die, I want to share here, many of the experiences of that rich and varied life. These experiences have been shaped by my needs to achieve, to find answers to questions, and to share what I have learned.
Even at my age, I still have many questions and, at times, feel there may be no ultimate answers, only the continual search for answers, which itself often leads to more questions.
One question with which I have struggled all my life is the reason for the persistent disrespect shown with the discrimination, racism, and hate that seem to exist everywhere. For me, discrimination became personal when I, as a young French Canadian, experienced it.
Later on, I experienced ostracism when I left my native country for the United States and thereby became a French-speaking minority in the U.S., but only for a few years. Then I became fluent enough that I was understood by Americans in Colorado, where I lived.
Through writing this memoir, I have come to know myself in a broader sense, and my primary hope is that the experiences of my life may help others gain a new perspective on the societal plague of discrimination, while encouraging them to seek solutions.
Through reading what I have experienced, including the obstacles that I had to overcome and what I have discovered while facing those challenges, my hope is that each reader will want to investigate more deeply his or her own life, community, and culture.
As I wrote, I chose to be brutally honest and to take the Clint Eastwood approach to my memoir, offering the truth as I saw it, whether it was good, bad, or ugly. Inspired by Charles B. Truax and Robert R. Carkuff ( 2 ), I believe that, as a therapist and a person, I must be true to myself and speak in a rational way that communicates my meaning to others.
Factors that have driven most of the decisions I have made, in addition to my need to achieve, are my desire to be a better person and to understand who I am as well as to understand my current goals in life (yes, even at my age). My life also has been ruled by my belief in giving to others, in being kind, and in making the effort to find the good in everyone.
My message is a simple "hello, how are you" which goes a long way in showing that we care for one another. Some who have shared my life’s events may have seen or interpreted them differently.
Some may disagree with my logic or conclusions. However, this is my memoir, and I stand by my words as written, while recognizing that my views have changed over time and may well change again.
You will also note that I have capitalized the word White because I feel it deserves a capital "W" because it does represent a group of Americans. And at times I feel like I am put into that category as expressed by the term "all Whites are…", if you know what I mean. Please note I intentionally repeated some events because a few were of significant importance in making a point, in that it left a strong imprint in my mind.
CHAPTER 1
Eastview and My Predecessors
CANADA – A VERY BRIEF HISTORY
My family, my wife and I and our three sons, presently live in Colorado Springs, which is located in the middle of Colorado and is about sixty miles south of the state capital of Denver. If you look at a map of the U.S., you will note there are two square states in the western United States.
The northernmost state is Wyoming, the one to the south is Colorado. In 1922, Wyoming was the first state to approve White women and a few Black women the right to vote. One of the reasons the state of Wyoming did this was to increase the population. ( 3 )
My wife and my three sons were all born in Colorado Springs. So when people ask me where I was born, I tell them way, way north and east of Colorado. After several guesses, they will usually come up with New York, at which point I tell them north of New York, and some will even guess Maine. So I answer "north of Maine," to which a few will say the ocean, but some will finally say Canada, to which I will answer in the affirmative.
I then tell them I was born in the capital city of Canada, which most say they don’t know and a few will say Toronto is the capital.
I then tell them that Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario like Denver is the state capital of Colorado. I then say the capital of Canada is Ottawa like Washington D.C. is the capital of the U.S. It never seems to amaze me how little we, as Americans, know so very little about world geography.
The word Canada is taken from a Native American word meaning village or settlement. While the U.S. has fifty states, Canada has ten provinces. Canada also has three territories.
The easternmost province is Quebec, and west of Quebec is Ontario. Indigenous peoples, made up of numerous Indian nations and Eskimos (now called Inuit), were present for thousands of years.
I include the Métis people here because it shows how Whites and Native Indians were able to intermarry in mostly Canada and a few northern states in the U.S. ( 4 ) Their offspring were called Métis of which most were French Canadian but some were also of English and Scottish descent.
The word Métis is French in origin, meaning "mixed." This happened from the 1500s to the 1800s. The Métis were historically the children of French fur traders and Indian women, as well as from unions of English or Scottish traders and Indian women and were called Anglo Métis. ( 5 )
When I attended the French Canadian school system, up through the fifth grade, we were taught that Jacques Cartier founded Canada in 1534. The British also settled Canada in the 1500s. Both the British and French explored and established settlements in eastern Canada.
After several conflicts, France gave up most of Canada. Most of the French Canadian stayed in British-controlled Canada. Some left and settled in the state of Louisiana. They were and are still called Cajuns. Many others settled in the northeastern states of the U.S.
During the 1700s and 1800s, not much was done to recognize French Canada. The Roman Catholic church and the premier (governor) of Quebec enforced strict, conservative values.
When I was born in 1947, we were living under this religious control. But things changed. Over time, French Canadians rebelled and became more liberal in their views.
EASTVIEW AND MY PREDECESSORS
Grandparents Grandmaitre and Léveillé
In the 1940s, Donat Grandmaitre, my maternal grandfather, was a successful businessman. He initially started selling wood to the citizens of Eastview. When coal was used, he used dump trucks and when oil was used he delivered oil to the individual homes in the city of Eastview.
My grandfather also owned a filling station. Later on he sold sand to the city of Ottawa from the islands he owned on the Ottawa river.
He was also a two-time mayor of Eastview. He was instrumental in getting a French Canadian hospital built in Eastview, the first in the province of Ontario and a bilingual high school in Eastview. These were outstanding achievements considering the dominance of English rule of the 1940s and 1950s. However, my Grand-papa Grandmaitre achieved them peacefully with a great deal of patience and wisdom.
As I