Henri John Fradette

A memorial mass for Henri and Elvia Fradette will be held Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 11 AM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Milaca with Fr. Jim Remmerswaal, OSC officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday. Interment will take place at a later date at Oak Knoll Cemetery in Princeton.

Henri John Napoleon Fradette was born September 5, 1921 in St. Brieux, Saskatchewan, Canada to John and Juliette (Masse’) Fradette. He grew up and attended school in St. Brieux.

Elvia Marie Fradette was born May 28, 1928 in Little Moose Saskatchewan, Canada to Guiseppe and Teresa (Ciarlantini) DeLuca. She grew up and attended school in the Little Moose area.

Henri and Elvia met at a dance at Lake Lenore in 1945. While it may not have been love at first sight, it wasn’t long before they knew they wanted to be together for all time. They were married on June 6, 1946. They farmed in St. Brieux, Canada until they moved west of Princeton, where they continued to farm. By this time, they had two little boys, Lester and Allen. They were blessed with a daughter, Anna, in 1959. Henri continued to farm, but he also had various outside jobs including working at Hoffman’s in Anoka, Hamm’s Beer Delivery, Milaca Coop, Johnston’s Motors in Milaca and as a groundskeeper at the Princeton Golf Course.

Elvia was a homemaker, raising her three children and when they were older, she also found time to work outside of the home at Karen’s Kitchen, Gorecki’s, Milaca Mills, Milaca Bakery and the Hi-Way Cafe. She was an excellent cook and her pies were divine. At 3:00 in the afternoon, you could always count on “coffee time” with wonderful homemade goodies being served.

After selling the farm to their son, Allen, they wintered in Mission, Texas for over 22 years. Henri and Elvia loved to dance and they would often go to as many as three dances in the same day. When Henri wasn’t dancing, he was doing jam sessions with their friends, playing guitar, accordion, violin and his harmonica. Although he had no lessons, he was very accomplished with his musical instruments. His favorite was his harmonica, which he received from his dad, John, at the age of eight. He continued playing the harmonica up to a year ago at Milaca Elim Home.

Henri and Elvia also enjoyed the sport of curling. This was their favorite activity when they would visit their friends and relatives in Canada. They also enjoyed playing pool, which Elvia excelled at, winning many trophies.

Henri and Elvia passed away together on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at Milaca Elim Home. It was very sad on Saturday when they both left us, but we can rejoice that they went the way they would have wanted to, hand in hand.

The family would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at Milaca Elim Home for the loving care they extended to our parents/grandparents. Words alone cannot express our gratitude for the attention they showed them.

They will be greatly missed by their three children, Lester (Nancy) Fradette of Northhome, MN, Allen (Cathy) Fradette of Milaca and Anna (Denis) Kajner of Mesa, AZ; grandchildren, Michelle, Lori, Lisa, Maria, Ronald, Diana, Ryan, Daniel, Derek, Ann and Justin and twenty great-grandchildren.

Henri is survived by brothers, John and George Fradette and sister, Helene Peetz. Elvia is survived by sister, Elsa Guillet.

Henri was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Alice Creurer and Marie Peterson and an infant brother, Joseph. Elvia was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Laura Danku and Mary Selnes and brothers, Ed and Leo DeLuca.