Daniel St-Aubin
Husband, father, dentist, proud franco-Ontarian. Born on April 3, 1931, in Windsor, Ont.; died on June 2, 2016, in Sudbury, Ont., from complications of cancer; aged 85.
My father, Daniel St-Aubin, was born during the Depression, the third of six children. His father, a lawyer in search of work and a better life, bravely took the family to a remote farming town in Northern Ontario called Ramore. For young Daniel, it was a wondrous world filled with adventure and freedom. There he developed a respect for all living things, and a love of science.
He graduated from the University of Toronto's faculty of dentistry in 1955. By then he had grown to be a tall, lanky young man – with exceptionally large hands. He moved to Sudbury, where his family had since settled, and opened his dental office above the downtown Capitol Theatre, although it's likely he had little time for movies while tending to his budding practice.
Soon after, he met and married a raven-haired beauty, Anna-Mai Sigouin, and had six children in less than eight years. Although he towered over us, our father was a gentle, playful soul. He built paddleboats and a tree house to keep his four sons and two daughters busy. He created elaborate Super 8 film productions, in which we were the stars. He dissected a frog to teach us about biology and the mechanics of life; and had us deliver food baskets to the needy with members of his Richelieu Club, to teach us about the significance of service. Often at the end of the day, my sister Josette and I would pretend to fall asleep on the couch, or by the bonfire at the cottage, to trick him into carrying us to bed. Of course he was never fooled, and he always obliged. He loved us deeply; with him, we felt safe.
Not surprisingly, my father focused his practice on pediatric dentistry. I remember asking him how he managed to put his large hands into his patients' tiny mouths. He responded with a mixture of amusement and impatience: "Honey, the instruments go into the patient's mouth, not my hands." At the time, he was the only dentist in Sudbury to perform dentistry under general anesthesia on children, after getting special permission from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario to conduct the procedures in his office. He did it to alleviate the burden on the parents who had to either wait for operating-room availability in Sudbury, or travel long distances for care. He loved being a dentist, so much so that he continued his work long after my mother passed away. For 50 years, he gently coaxed children to open their mouths, day after day.
He retired at 75 and spent his final years surrounded by friends and family, including his second wife, the lovely Grace Langlois. They met when Grace became his dental assistant, and married in 2002 after their work relationship blossomed into love. He spent most of his time caring for others, continued to be a member of the Richelieu Club, and sang with the Chorale du Centenaire.
When I think of him, I can't help but think of his hands. I remember sitting beside him in church when I was a child and quietly taking one of them, measuring it against mine, and marvelling at the width of his palm as my hand disappeared within his. Such large, gentle hands. And an even larger, gentler heart.
Danielle St-Aubin is Daniel's youngest child.