One might expect someone approaching their 100th birthday to be satisfied just to be approaching their 100th birthday.
However a Palmerston man who reached that milestone this past Saturday is still happiest when volunteering his time to help others.
Maurice Audet has been an active volunteer in the local community since retiring from his position as an English teacher at Norwell District Secondary School in the late ‘70s.
Much of his volunteer work has been with seniors. He and his wife Betty were instrumental in setting up the North Wellington Seniors Council, he has volunteered with Hospice Wellington and worked with the VON as a volunteer visitor, a driver, Meals on Wheels driver and feeding chronic and palliative patients at the Palmerston and District Hospital.
Born in Saint-Césaire, Quebec, Audet was trained as a teacher in that province, but later moved to Ontario, where he taught at an elementary school in Ottawa.
His teaching career eventually took him to China, where he was teaching English when the Second World War began. He ended up spending four years in a Japanese internment camp, before returning to Canada after the war.
In 1963, he moved to Palmerston and began teaching, first Latin and later English, at Norwell.
He and Betty, also a teacher at the school, were married the following year. After Maurice’s retirement, the couple embarked on an ambitious travel agenda that, when combined with Maurice’s earlier travels, has seen him visit 60 countries in his lifetime.
Along the way, he learned to speak eight languages, although by his own admission, some more fluently than others.
In 2005 Maurice was selected by VON Canada to receive the Reisman Award of Excellence for Volunteer Service Delivery. The nomination form for the award details his many contributions to the organization, in particular, how he helped as a volunteer visitor.
“One particular client Maurice worked with was chronically ill and severely depressed. Maurice visited this client as often as the client wished and helped the client feel at peace during the last months of his life,” states the nomination letter.
“When the client was placed in palliative care in the local hospital, Maurice stayed at his side so he would have a friend when he passed.”
VON Volunteer coordinator Sharon O’Sullivan notes that while Audet is not currently matched with a client for the visiting program, “he will be as soon as we have someone who needs one.”
She notes Audet’s out-going and cheerful personality is ideally suited to the visiting program.
“He has been an excellent volunteer. He’s genuinely creative. He likes to make things fun and interesting.”
Audet’s other current volunteer activities include cheery visits to the residents at Royal Terrace nursing home in Palmerston, where he entertains by dressing in theme costumes for various holidays. He also helps out in a flower garden located between the nursing home and the hospital, making sure the beds stay weed free and pruning out dead plants.
When the Seniors Centre for Excellence (SCE) hosts congregate dining programs, Audet can always be found afterward in the kitchen, volunteering to help with the dishes.
“Whatever we’re doing, he wants to help out. He likes to be doing things,” said Helen Edwards, seniors health services coordinator for the SCE.
Maurice’s naturally-active nature has made the month of May a difficult one for him. He recently had a pacemaker implanted and his volunteer activities have been restricted by doctors’ orders.
“They want me to take it easy for a month,” he said.
Asked why he spends so much of his time volunteering, Maurice deferred to his Catholic roots, stating, “Christ said, ‘Whoever looks after my brothers and sisters, it is also for me.’”
Maurice celebrated his 100th birthday this past weekend with a party at the United Church in Palmerston. His son Richard was able to be home from British Columbia, along with the Audet’s four-year-old grandson, to be part of the celebration.
In typical fashion, Maurice asked that no one bring gifts for him. Instead, he asked those who wished to give something to make a donation to a charity to help orphans.
