Saint-Pierre School

Saint-Pierre School (École Saint-Pierre), known as the French School, where the children of John and Mary Sicotte learned "Parisian" French.

Ed remembers: There were 8 grades plus a kindergarten in the red brick building on School Street. There was no high school. Most graduates went either to St. Mary's High, St. Charles High or Waltham High (a public school.) Therese went to Waltham High.

Edward Sicotte Testimonial Dinner

Leo Sicotte

Leo Sicotte, the youngest son of Thomas Sicotte's family is shown here in his World War 1 Army uniform . He was stationed at an army base in the southern United States when the first world war ended on November 11, 1918. He returned to live with his family at 17 Central Street, Waltham, and later spent the greater part of his life working for the City of Waltham. Leo passed away in 1953.

Fred Sicotte

Photo is of Frederick Sicotte in his ww1 army uniform.
He was the second son of Thomas & Marie Sicotte.

Fred saw action in France serving with an artillery unit.

Later, he married Caroline (Borden) McAndrews, a widow with three grown children, Henry, Edith and John McAndrews.
They lived in an apartment at 17 Central St., Waltham, for years until Fred's death in the 1940's.
He worked for the Marcy Coal Company for many years as a coal delivery man. Fred was extemely strong physically probably as a result of the hard work for the coal company.

His demeanor would impress one as having a certain roughness to it, but underneath it all, he had a heart of gold.

Mary and Therese, ca. 1950

Mary and Therese in the living room of the Cedar Street house in about 1950. Therese had just become an Air Force Flight Nurse and was home on leave at the time of the photo.

Mary and John Sicotte in the late 1940's

Mary and John Sicotte in the kitchen of their home at 12 Cedar Street, Waltham, MA in the late 1940's.

Uncle Joe

Joseph Sicotte, son of Thomas and Marie Guertin Sicotte.
Ed remembers:
Uncle Joe was about 39 years old when he passed away in 1931. I would have been about 7 yrs., old at the time of his death. As I heard it from my aunts, he was gassed in France during the first world war. (Various gases were used in the First World War. Mustard gas and Phosgene were two of those gases. Mustard gas was a vesicant in that it burned the skin and organs whereas Phosgene was more insidious in that it took longer to take effect, but was perhaps more lethal than many other gases. About 85% of 100,000 gas fatalities in that war were due to Phosgene which supposedly smelled like new mown hay.) I don't think he was well after that. He died in a military or veteran's hospital in Rutland presumably from complications of the gassing. I don't know if that's Rutland, VT, or Rutland, Massachusetts.

I believe Adriel, his wife, was of English extraction who came from either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, Canada, to which she returned after his death.

I get the impression that he was taciturn. The aunts told the story that once he was sitting on a porch or some such place when the mail man came along and asked him how he was. His reply, whether to be humorous or not, was "what do you care?" It may indicate a bit of dry wit because he was supposed to be a gentle and kind person.

I recall that I saw him laid out in a casket in the small house in the rear at 17 Central Street, Waltham, and that one of my aunts, probably Alma, had me touch his forehead and I was somewhat shocked at how hard and cold it was. Then............while I was standing outside the house a marching contingent of soldiers came to escort his body to the church and possibly to the cemetery. They played taps on the bugle and I turned to my aunt and either made a comment or asked if they were trying to wake him up. Strange how these memories stay with me. There were two other uncles (brothers) from the Sicotte family in that war, Fred & Leo. Fred was sent to France and I was told that he was with an artillery outfit that saw action. Leo, being the youngest, and having entered service later than the other two, was sent to an army camp in the South and apparently was there when the war ended.
During that war it was customary for some of the citizens of a city or town to gather and stop in front of any home that had a star displayed in a window to indicate a member of the family in the service. They would pay their respects by singing, etc. When they came to the Sicotte home on Central Street and saw three stars in the window a huge cheer and applause broke out, according to my aunts.