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New Brunswick mother's heroic sacrifice recognized 43 years later

Children of the Boudreau family in Bathurst, N.B. have erected a monument to honour their late mother on the very spot where she died saving their lives.

"It's too much of a big thing she did for us, and I said I want that to be memorialised," said Clarinda Boudreau, the daughter who spearheaded the monument project.

"I went to see the mayor and talked to the mayor about my project, and he said it was a beautiful project, and then to Sobeys, and they were right into it," she said.

The old Boudreau homestead is now property of the Sobeys grocery store. Still standing at the edge of the grass is a tree Ula Boudreau planted a few years before she died.

A few metres away, the family unveiled a plaque and two benches, to commemorate her sacrifice.

Tragic fire

When she smelled smoke in her Bathurst home on January 28, 1973, Ula Boudreau went upstairs to investigate. What she found was the beginning of a massive fire that would eventually consume the entire house.

"I was eleven, and the fire just came big, and burned really fast. When my mother came upstairs, it was already full of smoke," says Pauline Boudreau, one of the eldest Boudreau children.

Pauline was asleep when the fire started, and her mother shook her awake, rousing the rest of the children in the house. Most of the older children were out for the night.

Ula Boudreau shepherded her young children — all under 11 — to the window, and had them jump ten feet to the ground below.

Pauline says her mother and brother, Marc, only six months old at the time, were the last ones in the house.

"I was telling her, jump, jump. I couldn't understand why she was not jumping. But probably she was all burned, so that's probably why she couldn't jump," she says.

"She just dropped Marc, and the house went down."

Pauline caught her brother, and the rest of the children ran to safety.

Lasting legacy

The plaque was erected through cooperation with the city of Bathurst, Sobeys, and several sponsors.

It recognizes Ula Boudreau as a recipient of the Governor General's Star of Courage in 1973, posthumously.

Karine Boudreau-Roy, Ula's granddaughter, says she will visit the monument to remember the grandmother she never knew.

"It's a good place to come and think about it, and be thankful for the life we have because of her, because if she hadn't saved her children [my mother] would not be here, and I would not, either."

The 12 children and their extended families watched as the plaque was unveiled by local dignitaries.

Each placed a red rose on the plaque in remembrance of their mother.