Well-known New Brunswick fiddler Emile Gallant passed away December 2, at the age of 92.
Gallant’s family has ensured that his love of the fiddle will carry over to his final resting place.
Emile Gallant was an auto mechanic by trade, but his passion was playing and making fiddles.
He was part of the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers, alongside the legendary Ivan Hicks, for more than three decades.
“I have seen him sit back and have his fiddle in front of him and close his eyes,” recalls Hicks. “I’m sure he was just taking in everything, the sounds that came out of those violins.”
Late in the evening, on December 2, Roland Gallant received a call telling him to come to the hospital.
When he arrived, his father, Emile Gallant had already passed away.
Roland says he did not feel sadness, in fact, something very different from that.
“He was telling me that he wasn’t suffering anymore and he had suffered,” says Roland. “He had dementia, so he was trapped in a body, but he wasn’t suffering anymore and that was the beauty of it.”
Emile’s wish was to be cremated and his family set about to choose an urn, but could not find one that they felt Emile would have liked.
“Then one of the family members mentioned that he had some unfinished fiddles and I suggested to them that that could be used,” says funeral director Marc Melanson.
The family says they could not think of a better final resting place for Emile.
“It’s significant, it’s really a part of him, plus his ashes, it’s his work,” says Emile’s widow,” Gérarda Gallant
“I think he is finishing the fiddle we put him in, I think he is finishing the fiddle and once he's finished, he will play,” says Roland.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
