Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter 

Dedicated to the Preservation of Our Family Heritage 

Spring, 2003 $4.95 

God God God Calls… 

Calls… 

One One One Durand Durand Response 

Response 

Sister Manette Durand, CSJ

Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter Spring, 2003 

In this issue… 

God God Calls...One Calls...One Durand Durand Response Response is a personal narrative that tells of a lifetime 

of work providing health care to the rural poor By Sister Manette Durand, CSJ 

How Sister Manette Became “a Flying Nun” tells of a fast-paced visit to rural 

Alabama that opened a cousin’s eyes By Jeanne Durand Batte 

Durands in Church Work Span Generations 7 

Publicity Follows Good Works...Sometimes 7 

Durand Connection Made to New Guinea Air Field By John C Durand 8 

In In In Memorium Memorium Kaye (Durand) Lumley 11 

Foundation Gets New Website Look 11 

Amazing Skydive Rescue (for what it’s worth) By John C Durand 12 

East Coast Robert Durand Adds Big to Durand Genealogy 14 

Durands in the Military...Ernest J. Durand 15 

President’s Report By Mike Durand 16 

Survey Shows Satisfaction with Efforts By Mike Durand 17 

“Using the Foundation’s Website” begins a new series By Yvonne Cariveau 18 

Readers Connection 19 

The Back Page is where you find out who’s who 20 

The cover: A flowering mimosa adorns the front yard of the mobile home on Blanche Street that Sister 

Manette Durand and one and sometimes two other nuns have called home in Jonestown, Mississippi for 13 

years. The nuns planted the tree as a sapling in 1991. A crossroads community, Jonestown is located in 

northern Mississippi, about 70 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. 

Picture credits: Cover photo and photos for “God Calls...One Durand Answers” provided by Sister Manette. 

Photo on page 6 provided by Jeanne Durand Batte of Navarre, FL. Photo on page 7 of Sister Ernestine provided by 

Mary Herzig of Satellite Beach, FL. Photo of Sister Ignace and her parents is from the Foundation archives. Photo of 

Chris Ward on page 8 and photo of P-39 Bell Airacobra on page 9 provided by Chris Ward of Adelaide, South Australia. 

Map of New Guinea on page 10 was taken from the internet. Photo of Foundation website homepage on page 

11 taken from the internet. Photos for “Amazing Skydive Rescue” on pages 12-13 provided by Clint Hillis of Austin, 

TX. Photo of genealogy chart on page 14 provided by John C Durand of Elkhorn, WI. Photo of Ernest J. Durand on 

page 15 provided by Robert Durand of Fiskdale, MA. 

This publication © 2003 by Durand Heritage Foundation, Inc. Published four times a year by the Durand Heritage 

Foundation. All rights reserved. Duplicating or copying by electronic or other means is strictly prohibited without 

written consent of the Foundation. Subscription rate is $20.00 per year. Send payment to: Durand Heritage Foundation, 

1335 Mandan Ave. North, Golden Valley, MN 55427, USA. Major credit cards are accepted. To subscribe 

on-line visit www.Durandfoundation.com. 

2 

3 

6

Spring, 2003 Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter 

You ask how does religious life work? I'm still trying 

to figure that out. It seems there are as many ways of 

being “nun” as there are of being “people.” We strive to 

be community builders by living in community. Each of 

us, however, gets to define what that means in the various 

kinds of communities in which we live and work. 

Each of us has to find our own ways to respond to God's 

children and to figure out how and with whom we seek 

our common goods. Certainly I'm learning an endless 

variety of things by being with others—of living community. 

Being a nursing student at St. Mary's Hospital in Minneapolis, 

Minnesosta in 1956 broadened my vision. 

Learning how to help others felt right to me. I sensed a 

desire for something lasting, not ending in death or divorce, 

but I don't think I had eternity in mind either. Of 

course I resisted the comments from my dear aunt Sister 

Ignace when she would say “wouldn't it be nice for all 

my nieces and nephews to be priests, brothers and sisters?” 

I knew she 

didn't really mean 

me. 

At St. Mary's, experiencing 

sisters as 

ordinary people with 

ordinary jobs and desires 

made me ask 

myself questios 

about the why—and 

the what—of life. I 

associated with other 

students who like 

myself had mostly 

the “homeschooling” 

version of 

religious education. 

Despite that fact, 

however, I never felt 

left out when I hung 

around with those 

who had received 

more formal Catholic 

educations. Like others 

who had been “home schooled” I was anxious to 

learn all I could of our religion. My best friend at the 

time was a Finn from Escho, Minnesota whose family 

was anti-Catholic, but that didn't matter to her. She became 

a Catholic so she could become a sister. The difference 

between us is that I entered religious life, and 

she got married! 

Religious life is way bigger than any one of us, and I 

God God Calls...One Calls...One Durand Durand Response 

Response 

By Sister Manette Durand, CSJ 

3 

was glad to be able to think about what a bunch of us 

could do if we got together. I liked being a part of something 

bigger and being a part of a healing group that had 

common beliefs. Wouldn't it be great to look for 

chances to provide relief of pain as a group? We could 

help folks enjoy the beauty of life and ourselves be enriched 

by searching for and living God's promises. 

With the help and support of friends I laid aside nursing 

school and joined the Congregation of Sisters of 

Saint Joseph of Carondolet, St. Paul Provence. After I 

entered the order I found Durands already there: my 

aunt Sister Ignace (the twin sister of my Uncle Lewie) 

and Sister St. Louis Durand/Dufresne (a second cousin). 

Like my cousins I had known Sister Ignace from her 

summer visits to the old home place in the Town of 

Scott. But what a wonderful discovery it was to meet 

and live with Sister Saint Louis for two years during her 

retirement. 

I learned that living in “commun-ity” and learning to 

share everything 

helped me to go out 

into the bigger community 

and to listen 

carefully.It helped 

me to learn what is 

important for me to 

do with this life that 

my Creator, my 

Highest Power, has 

given me. This I 

pray that I do, in 

prayer, quietly and 

privately, as well as 

loudly and publicly. 

I work at trying 

to balance both 

stances, as well as 

prayerfully sharing 

with those who 

know me, and with 

those in leadership 

positions, both CSJs 

and beyond. As the 

Old Testament says, God calls in the tiny breeze as well 

as in the violent storm. 

My experiences came to influence my attitude regarding 

my assignments. I believe Jesus came to show us 

how to be family with God as our parent. Jesus teaches 

us that our Creator God desires a personal relationship 

with God as parent. Having entered “community” before 

the reforms of Vatican II, for about 10 years I received 

A happy gathering of nuns helped Sister Manette to celebrate her 40th anniversary 

as a member of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondolet. Sister 

Manette, wearing pink and a big smile in the back row, was born and raised on 

an 120-acre dairy farm in N.W. Wisconsin. After starting her nurse’s training, 

Sister Manette joined the order in 1957 at the age of 20.


assignment 'missions' by letter every two 

years. Then one year, because of a specific 

need identified by the hospital administrator 

for a job I thought I could do, I offered to do 

it. In the years since I've grown in how I respond 

to what seems possible. I know the 

Great Spirit works best when we put our personal 

hopes and dreams out there for others 

to critique with us while we continue to listen 

to our own being. I’ve learned that obedience 

comes in many sizes and shapes in each 

of our Christian lives. 

Since we pray to work with Jesus who had 

not a stone to lay his head on and we don't 

know where he slept, we religious are obligated 

to hold everything in common just as 

the first Christians did. To do this is very 

hard, because while I own nothing but my 

sins (and for those I like to blame the Devil), 

I have materially more than I need and certainly 

more than my parents had. So every 

year those of us who live in community figure 

out how much we need to make ends meet. If our 

needs are in the range of what the other CSJ communities 

say they need, we receive that amount in a monthly 

bank deposit. Community meetings before and after 

help set the guidelines for how we’ll live. The salary I 

receive (currently above Mississippi poverty guidelines) 

goes to the CSJ common fund to assist the many who 

receive no salary. 

Most Challenging Assignment 

My most challenging assignment? Book learning! It 

The Jonestown Health Center shares space with the town’s fire department, 

built as an addition to the clinic. The Health Center building was constructed in 

1962 as a regional medical facility, part of President John F. Kennedy’s initiative 

to develop rural health services for America’s underserved communities. 

Sister Manette seated left poses with the medically trained staff of the 

Jonestown Health Center who provide services to the community of 1,700 

people The nearest physicians are in Clarksdale, some 15 miles distant. 

4 

was during my basic nursing training that I first discovered 

it was easier to work 'hands on' with people than to 

study books and write papers. Twenty-two years later, at 

age 48, knowing study was hard, I asked to go to graduate 

school so I could do Nurse Practitioner work and 

work among the elderly. It was the end desire that got 

me through the book work. During that time, my eyes 

were opened to see that I could care for not just the elderly 

but for whole families as well, including fragile 

newborns. And that’s what I've been doing for the past 

18 years. 

I've always been privileged to focus on 

healing through the nursing profession. On 

the hard days—and there’s plenty of hard 

days—I don't ask “Did I heal someone?” 

Rather I ask, “How much did I really listen 

to the person in front of me?" Did I try 

to listen to the words spoken? And what 

wasn't said that the person wanted to say? 

Each nursing position I've worked has 

helped me to be ready for the next: from 

hospital nursing to chemical dependency 

nursing to nursing home duty to my current 

position of Family Nurse practitioner, 

self-employed. 

In 1990 three of us CSJ health care 

workers talked with CSJ leadership 

(Provincial Team) about moving to Jonestown, 

Mississippi. Our Provincial Team 

agreed to support our living space financially 

but our health care “business” 

would not be CSJ supported. That arrangement 

has worked to help me grow in


Siblings and in-laws of Sister Manette pose in front of paternal grandmother 

Louise Durand’s family quilt at the Pierre & Louise Durand family 

reunion last summer. L to R: John & Bonita Beich (Bonita was married to 

Sister Manette’s brother Joe, who died of leukemia in 1988), Sister 

Manette (baptised Dorothy), Vonnie & Sister Manette’s brother Jack, sister 

Karen (widow of Gary Urben), and sister Ione and her husband Wayne 

Brook. The children’s parents, Lawrence and Ida (Jacobson), married in 

1930 but enjoyed just 14 years together before Ida died of a ruptured gall 

bladder in 1944 when Sister Manette was not quite eight years old. Lawrence 

Durand married Harriet Shell later that year. 

healthy interdependence. Currently, I feel I am way over 

my head in the business part of this position. At the 

same time, it is the beauty of the local community and 

the southern hospitality that keeps me here. Now that I 

am soon going to be 66 years experienced, 

our clinic administration 

(consisting of myself and Sister Goretti 

Germain, SSJ, who is simply great with 

office stuff) has re-established an ad hoc 

committee of local leaders and health care 

folks to look at the future of the clinic. I 

would love to be able to do client care 

without the administrative work, but that 

is more ideal that practical. We are 15 

miles from Clarksdale, the biggest city in 

Coahoma County, but folks around here 

have poor access to transportation and so 

our clinic keeps busy. We hope to be a 

part of the transition that will leave me 

free to think of new possibilities for serving 

as Jesus served. 

My Biggest Disappointment 

My biggest disappointment as a profes- 

sional is also my biggest challenge and 

the thing that keeps me striving. It is daily 

task of facing myself and accepting my 

5 

limitations. My great joy is working with the 

beautiful and faithful staff women who share 

and participate in our philosophy of high quality 

caring, and accepting that healing happens 

in the middle of caring for others and for oneself. 

I have been very fortunate (here in the Mississippi 

Delta we say 'blessed') to have had great 

models all along my journey. The real groundwork 

was family—my patient, generous, and 

outgoing dad, stories of my mom, my prayerful 

step-mom, my siblings, and the community of 

aunts, uncles, and cousins. I believe in each and 

every one of the Durands and the Jacobsons 

(my mom’s side), past, present, and future, as 

we all do the best we can. 

My Professional Role Models 

As far as professional colleagues go that have 

helped to shape my life of service I especially 

treasure the Fargo North Dakota Administrator 

who took on the nursing home business after 

she had raised her 12-14 children. She would 

remind us that we were really the employees of 

each of the residents and not their bosses. 

In Selma, Alabama I worked with an East Indian 

MD couple who taught me the beauty of 

the Hindu religion (the oldest in the world) by 

demonstrating in their daily lives their dedication 

to the same things I value. The wife psychiatrist 

treated all religious affiliations with mutual respect 

and care, using the phrase 'the Man upstairs' to refer 

to our same Creator God. 

(Continued on page 20) 

The bounty of Nature (and of Nature’s God) was revealed in watermelons that 

flourished in Sister Manette’s back yard last summer. The melons were a Jackand-the-Beanstalk 

story. They sprang to life from a heap of tossed-out garbage.


I remember… How Sister Manette Became “a Flying Nun” 

By Jeanne Durand Batte 

Some years back when we had Mom visiting in Florida, 

she and I tripped up to Camden, Alabama where 

Sister Manette (she is still cousin Dorothy to me) 

worked as a Nurse Practitioner. Mom and I spent a couple 

of nights at Sister Manette’s convent in Selma, Alabama. 

We found it most interesting! 

Cousin Dorothy got up early and dragged me out for 

her usual early morning mile jog. We walked a block 

and then ran a block as we followed on her usual route. 

Then we prepared for the day. Mom and I rode with this 

"flying nun" for the hour and 10 minutes it took Cousin 

Dorthey to reach her duties in Camden. 

She put Mom to work at several little odd jobs while I 

was her nurse assistant, preparing the patients for "Dr" 

Sister Manette. She really was the “doctor” for that area; 

she did everything, although she had connections with a 

physician in another town with whom she'd confer if 

necessary. 

With her effervescent, quick-wit personality, cousin 

Dorothy was like the Eveready bunny, working all day 

to give her patients love, compassion, sincerity, and the 

expertise of a minor god. The people she served were so 

needy. She was their lifeline, not only medically but 

also psychologically and emotionally. 

We took time out to lunch with some townspeople in a 

rundown community lunchroom—nothing fancy—and 

then it was back to business. 

I visited with some of the other sisters that actually 

lived in this rural community and My! these gals have 

my greatest admiration. They could take dirt and spin 

gold from it. REALLY! The meager supplies they had 

to work with seemed to multiply, and their resourcefulness 

was amazing. 

They are wonderful 

creatures and only God 

and a few others understand 

their worth. 

It was dark by the 

time we left for the 

long ride back to the 

convent. It was up and 

down the steep hills, 

on dirt logging roads 

mainly, but cousin 

Dorothy knew the 

route all too well. And 

since on those roads 

there were no speed 

limits—well, that's 

why I now call her a 

"flying nun." 

Back at the convent, 

6 

supper was ready and the place became a beehive with 

activity. There were gleeful conversations and giggles as 

everyone shared the story of their activities of the day, 

not noisily, but with just the sweet hum of joy in their 

vocation of serving mankind as they serve their Lord 

and King, Jesus. 

It was Mom's birthday when we were there (February 

12), and Sister Manette had made sure her Aunt Fern 

had a birthday cake with many cheerful wishes. 

The next morning all the sisters including Sister 

Manette were off again to their posts of duty. Of course, 

she once again got me up for our early morning exercise 

jaunt! Later that morning Mom and I returned home to 

Florida. 

We were most grateful to have had the opportunity to 

spend two nights in the convent and to share in the day's 

life of a nun, our very own Sister Manette. 

Nuns are very "special people." Whereas Sister 

Ignace`s life was very sheltered, Sister Manette's life has 

much more freedom, a very different life style compared 

to Sister Ignace. 

But I still remember how exciting it was when I was a 

little girl when the nuns (Sister Ignace and her traveling 

companion, always another nun) came to Spooner, Wisconsin 

to visit. Oh, how we loved her visits. She could 

tell some colorful jokes, too. 

I still have the nun doll that Sister Ignace made for me. 

She made one for my twin sister Joanne and one for me 

for—I think—our fifth birthdays. She also brought a red 

garbed doll for our brother Ronnie. We have a picture of 

the three of us kids holding our nun dolls. 

Many years later I rediscovered my doll when our 

mom and dad moved to 

a different house. I was 

rummaging around upstairs 

in our old house 

and came across the 

doll and was overcome 

with sentiment. I ran 

downstairs clutching 

my doll and crying 

tears of joy at all the 

fond memories the doll 

brought bubbling up. 

Mom got big tears and 

cried with me. Dad 

couldn't figure out why 

we were crying. 

Although my doll’s 

Wearing baggy cotton stockings and big smiles twin sisters Joanne and 

Jeanne Durand and their brother Ronnie pose with their new handmade 

dolls, gifts from their aunt, Sister Ignace. Photo about 1944. 

face is a little smudged 

after all these years, 

(Continued on page 20)


Sister Manette Follows a Family Tradition of 

Durands in Church Work 

Digging into Durand history to find individuals who 

devoted their lives to church work would probably reveal 

a list of several dozen. Every branch seems to have 

at least one or two, and there are many branches. Just as 

the Durand Heritage Foundation is steadily building its 

knowledge base of Durands in the military, so can we 

begin building our knowledge base of Durands in 

church work. 

Given that throughout most of its history the Durand 

family has been staunchly associated with the Catholic 

Church we would expect to find a lot of nuns and priests 

in our ancestry. However, we might find others among 

the world’s religious community who did not or are not 

serving the Catholic Church. 

Digging into this aspect of Durand history would be a 

Sister Ernestine (daughter of 

Joseph and Josephine Durand 

King of Faribault, Minnesota) 

was born Mathida. What was 

her religious order? 

worthwhile pursuit. As with 

our other efforts to expand 

our knowledge of things 

Durand, once it’s done it’s 

done. If you have something 

to contribute about Durands 

in church work, get in touch 

with Mike Durand, president. 

Of course we will keep 

you posted. 

Sister Ignace (born Marie Louise) with her parents Pierre 

and Louise Durand in a photo probably taken at the time of 

her investiture as a nun. When she was born after a difficult 

labor Pierre supposedly held the newborn up and said that if 

she survived she would be dedicated to the Lord. Sister 

Ignace entered the convent at age 14. 

7 

Publicity About Nuns’ Good Works in 

Jonestown Is Not New 

An article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on January 

3, 2003 featured the work of the Sister Manette and her 

co-workers in Jonestown, Mississippi. A sub-head of the 

article reads: “A few nuns are making a world of difference 

for Mississippi Delta’s poorest of the poor.” This 

January article was actually a reprint of an article that 

had appeared earlier in the prestigious New York Times. 

The Star Tribune reprinted the Times article after a 

Star Tribune reporter wrote a story based on an interview 

she conducted with Sister Manette and her coworkers 

by phone. 

Such publicity is good for the their work, according to 

Sister Manette. “After that article appeared in the New 

York Times we got all kinds of phone calls from people 

and foundations asking how they could help.” 

This is not the first big-city 

publicity the sisters have received 

about their work in 

tiny Jonestown. Ten years 

ago the St. Paul Pioneer 

Press published a long feature 

story about the community 

and the nuns’ work in 

the health clinic. The article 

dwelled on the bold stance of 

the nuns in providing birth 

control services despite the 

contrary position of church 

authorities. The nuns held 

that they could not “wait for 

the church or the government 

to deal with life-and-death 

matters.” 

“What we want is some systemic 

change,” Sister 

Manette is quoted as saying 

in the 1993 article, “We feel 

like we’re putting a Band- 

Aid on an ulcer.” 

Sister Manette’s character 

appealed to the Star Tribune 

reporter. She described Sister 

Manette as “a woman not 

only of great faith, but great 

tenacity and good humor. I 

hope I will have the privilege 

of meeting her one 

day.” 

The Star Tribune article was 

available on that newspaper’s 

website for several 

weeks.


Internet Detective Work and Helpful Folks Shed Light on Durand Field 

By John C Durand 

In the last issue we wrote about an "isolated and overgrown" 

World War II airfield in New Guinea known as 

Durand Field. This abandoned airfield was brought to 

our attention in an email sent to foundation president 

Mike Durand by an Australian named Chris Ward. Chris 

wanted to know if we knew how Durand Field got its 

name. Since then Mike and I have kept in touch with 

Chris as we tried to unravel the story behind Durand 

Field. 

The big news is that we 

now know that Durand 

Field was named in honor 

of Lt. Edward D. Durand, 

an Army Air Force pursuit 

pilot from Stevens Point, 

Wisconsin. Part of our effort 

in uncovering the story 

of Lt. Durand was determining 

whether he was a 

blood relative to the Minnesota/Wisconsin 

Durands. 

More about that later. 

Our exchange of emails 

with Chris about Durand 

Field ultimately led to the 

question: what ever got you 

interested in Durand Field? 

His answer showed me 

once again that you never 

know who might be digging 

into what in this wide, wide 

world. 

Over the course of several 

emails Chris provided this 

story: 

"…I don't have a military 

background…although I 

spent 25 years with Australia's 

Civil Aviation Department (the approximate 

equivalent of your Federal Aviation Administration). 

During that time I spent a number of years in Darwin 

and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and became 

familiar with what remained of the wartime airstrips 

which had been built in many cases by the US Army 

Corps of Engineers following the bombing of Darwin in 

February 1942. 

"…I have had a lifelong interest in aircraft. I was 

aware of a number of the wartime airstrips south of Darwin 

and had visited several of them. A few years ago 

my daughter Helen…bought a property on Gove Road 

in Enfield…an Adelaide suburb…. 

"I knew Gove was a wartime airfield and…I soon real- 

8 

ized that a number of the surrounding streets were also 

named after wartime strips from that area. However, 

there were some names that were unfamiliar to me and 

my initial goal was to confirm that these were in fact the 

names of wartime strips and to find the location of them 

and then later to find out something about the people 

who gave their names to the strips. 

"…I contacted the USAAF [US Army Air Force] and 

USAF [US Air Force] Archivist 

looking for more 

information without success 

although the Archivist 

suggested I might like 

to visit the Maxwell AFB 

to do some research!… 

[Maxwell Air Force Base 

is in Alabama, about 

10,000 miles from where 

Chris lives!] 

"My initial contact with 

the Durand Foundation in 

January 2002 was not real 

fruitful. However, as you 

know by late last year you 

guys had found out quite a 

bit about Lt. Edward D. 

Durand." 

Indeed we had! Some of 

the internet detective work 

that led to finding out 

"quite a bit" about Lt. Durand 

might be of interest. 

Remember, at the beginning 

of this research the 

only thing we knew was 

that an abandoned airfield 

in New Guinea was named 

Durand Field. 

1. A website maintained by the American Battle Monuments 

Commission revealed a record for an Edward D. 

Durand, a First Lieutenant in the US Army Air Force, 

who is listed as "Missing in Action or Buried at Sea" 

with a death date of December 5, 1945. This site also 

provided Lt. Durand's military serial number (0-417205) 

and his unit as the 35 th Pursuit Squadron, 8 th Pursuit 

Group. 

2. A little digging revealed that the 8 th Pursuit Group 

was based in New Guinea. Was Edward D. Durand the 

man we were looking for? It seemed reasonable that a 

pilot who was "Missing in Action" in the early days of 

the war might have an airfield named after him, but how 

did that possibility square with his date of death (1945), 

Chris Ward of Adelaide, South Australia poses before the 

street sign that connects a part of his country to Wisconsin. His 

curiosity about the street name led him to the website of the Durand 

Heritage Foundation and his inquiry to Mike Durand. Adelaide 

is more than 2,000 miles from Durand Field!


Hi John - 

Muskogee, Okla, then was transferred to Randolph 

Here is the company profile I promised you for the Field, Tex., and received his wings at Kelly Field, Tex., 

newsletter. 

May 29, 1941. 

VoyageurWeb, The Internet Outfitters 

"In April, 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Ser- 

Our cousin, Yvonne Cariveau, lives and works in Manvice 

Cross for extraordinary heroism in air battles over 

kato, MN. For the past 10 years, she has owned and run 

the north coast of New Guinea the year before. Al- 

a business called VoyageurWeb that employs 13 staff 

designing, hosting and maintaining Internet web sites though he has been missing nearly a year, the award was 

like our own www.Durandfoundation.com web site. not made posthumously as the war department still 

Yvonne founded the company with her husband Dale listed Lieutenant Durand as missing. In April, 1944 it 

Karsten in 1993 under the name Internet Connections was learned that an air field in New Guinea had been 

as an Internet access and web site business. In 2001, named Durand Field in his honor. During the time he 

Yvonne changed the company name to VoyageurWeb was in the far eastern war theatre he was in Australia for 

after restructuring the business to do web sites only. a time. He flew pursuit plans against the enemy." 

VoyageurWeb staff enjoy a relaxed, learning atmos- 7. We happily emailed this information to Chris Ward 

phere where they create useful and attractive web sites 

in Australia. 

and get to interact with people from all over the state 

8. I had also put out an inquiry on a website that is 

and country in many different lines of work. Their clients 

get hassle-free web site updating and effective web 

building the history of the US 22 

sites that help them deliver services and make money. 

Recently, VoyageurWeb won the Mankato Area Council 

for Quality Corporate Award. 

You can learn more about VoyageurWeb by visiting 

www.voyageurweb.com 

Yvonne's email address is yvonne@voyageurweb.com 

nd which was months after the end of the war? 

3. Working with Lt. Durand's military serial number led 

to the discovery that there is a system to those numbers. 

The 0 in 0-417205 indicates that he was a male commissioned 

officer and the initial 4 indicates that he was inducted 

in the 4 

Bombardment 

Group. This unit, known as the Red Raiders, also flew 

out of Port Moresby in New Guinea, not far from Durand 

Field. I wondered if perhaps someone familiar with 

the military history of that area might know something 

about the details of Lt. Durand's death. A month or so 

after I posted my inquire a reply came in from a Michael 

Jacques in Australia, who provided the details of what 

was apparently Lt. Durand's first and last mission: 

"On 30 April 1942 a reinforcement of Airacobras of 

the 35th and 36th F[ighter] S[quadron] landed at Horn 

Island after a Japanese raid. The American fighters then 

refueled before taking off again for Port Moresby, New 

th military command, which is the Midwest. 

So Lt. Durand was from the Midwest! Was he a 

Minnesota/Wisconsin Durand? 

4. Another website provides a list of military casualties 

for Wisconsin and many of its counties. Scanning these 

lists uncovered an entry for Portage County for a DU- 

RAND, EDWARD D 0-417205 1 LT FOD. Bingo! 

But what does FOD mean? 

Along with KIA [Killed in Action] and DOW [Died of 

Wounds] and DNB [Died, Non-Battle] FOD is military 

talk for Finding of Death, a designation which, after investigation, 

changes a person who is listed as Missing In 

Action to one of a presumptive Finding Of Death. So 

that explains the gap between the time when Lt. Durand 

was apparently shot down and listed as missing and the 

time when he was officially declared dead. 

5. Knowing that Lt. Durand was from Portage County, 

the next step was to make an on-line search of the obituary 

index at the Archives library of the University of 

Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Surely his death would have 

been reported in the local paper. This search revealed 

four obituary "hits" for Lt. Durand in the Stevens Point 

Daily Journal, that city's daily newspaper. For a nominal 

charge the Archives library sent copies of the four 

articles. Two revealed what we were looking 

for. 

6. The obituary dated August 14, 1944 was 

for Lt. Durand's father, also named Edward D. 

Durand. A paragraph in this obituary states: 

"The couple's only son, Lieutenant Edward 

David Durand, a fighter pilot, was reported 

missing in action in the far eastern war theatre 

since April 30, 1942. He was awarded the 

Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary 

heroism displayed in air battles and an air 

field in New Guinea has been named for him, 

now known as Durand Field." 

The obituary for Lt. Durand is dated January 

14, 1946 and appeared after his status was 

changed from Missing In Action to Finding of 

Death. The obituary provided this additional 

information about Lt. Durand's military service: 

"The officer was 24 years old at the time he P-39 Bell Airacobra flown by Lt. Durand packed a lot of firepower in its 

was listed as missing. He was born in Stevens nose-mounted 37mm cannon and four wing-mounted machine guns but its 

Point Feb. 4, 1918, was a graduate of St. flying performance suffered in the mountainous tropics. Not long after Lt. 

Stephen's parochial school, the Stevens Point Durand’s death his 8th Fighter Group began flying the P-38 Lightning, a 

twin-engine airplane that provided superior capabilities over most Japanese 

High School in 1936 and Central State 

aircraft. Major Richard Bong from Poplar, Wisconsin, America’s most cele- 

Teacher's college in 1940. He enlisted in the 

brated WW II flying ace and a later member of Lt. Durand’s fighter group, 

fall of 1940, received his primary training at flew a P-38 Lighting. He was credited with downing 40 Japanese airplanes. 

9


Guinea. They landed at Seven Mile Strip around noon. 

The fighters took off that afternoon to strafe Lae. 

"The American fighters then moved on to Salamaua 

where three small seaplanes were claimed burned out 

and small ground targets strafed. A strong and wellorganized 

force of Zeros had taken off from Lae and 

waited for the young Americans at a point they had to 

pass on the homeward leg. On the way home a furious 

dogfight erupted. 

"The Zero pilots put in claims for two of these fighters. 

One was Lt. Edward Durand, who was shot down, captured 

and executed." 

So there we have the sad story of the young flier’s end. 

Lt. Durand's obituary also states that he was married 

on December 1941 in New York, NY while he was stationed 

at Mitchell Field. His wife, Dorothy Mularkey, is 

described as a former teacher and, apparently during the 

war years, was a radio instructor at Truax Field in Madison, 

Wisconsin, a military airbase at the time. The obituary 

for Lt. Durand's father indicates that Dorothy was 

living in St. Louis, Missouri in 1944. 

As we look at the information we have about Lt. Durand 

so far it is possible to reconstruct this scenario of 

his short life. 

He probably attended Central State Teachers College 

intending to become a teacher. However, with World 

War II already raging in Europe he opted for the adventure 

of becoming a fighter pilot and enlisted in the Army 

Air Force. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and 

Lt. Edward D. Durand was shot down, captured, and executed after his 

squadron of P-39’s was ambushed while returning from a strafing mission at 

Lae and Salamanua, due north of Port Moresby. The strafing (and later 

bombing missions) were intended to keep the Japanese forces on New 

Guinea at bay, which threatened to invade Australia. Before being named in 

Lt. Durand’s honor, Durand Field was known as 17-Mile field. 

10 

America’s entry into the war, his unit received orders to 

sail immediately for Australia. He called his fiancée 

back in Wisconsin and said "Let's get married before 

I’m shipped out!" and Dorothy Mularkey took the train 

to be married to him in New York on December 27. 

After traveling by train across the United States 

(perhaps with Dorothy riding along) Lt. Durand crossed 

the Pacific Ocean aboard the former World War I troop 

transport Maui. His pursuit squadron arrived at Brisbane 

on the easternmost bulge of Australia on 6 March 1942. 

Less than 60 days later, flying his first combat mission 

on April 30, Lt. Durand was shot down. 

In our search for a Minnesota/Wisconsin family connection, 

foundation president Mike Durand got in touch 

with 88-year-old Harold Haase of Stevens Point, who is 

a direct descendent of Isaac Durand, Lt. Durand’s greatgrandfather 

and the apparent link that would lead us to a 

Minnesota/Durand family connection. Mr. Haase, who 

describes himself as the last of his family, wrote that his 

grandfather Omer, Isaac Durand's son, spoke French and 

came from the Trois Rivieres area of Quebec. 

Ah ha! I thought, the roots of many Midwest Durands 

are also found in the Trois Rivieres area. Things were 

looking good that we will find a family link to Lt. Durand 

somewhere in Canada. 

Alas! Yes, Lt. Edward D. Durand has family roots in 

Canada, but on a different family tree. 

Roger Durand, secretary of the Durand Heritage Foundation 

and its most knowledgeable genealogist, determined 

that the primogenitor of Lt. Durand in 

the New World is not Jean Durand dit La Fortune 

from Doeuil sur le Mignon, France, but 

Pierre Durand from St. Saturnin de Blois, 

France, a different family line. (Blois is a city 

on the Loire River, perhaps 100 miles north of 

Doeuil). Several early generations of the Pierre 

Durand line from Blois lived in the area 

of Champlain, Quebec before coming to the 

United States. Champlain is 50-60 miles farther 

west on the St. Lawrence River from Cap 

Rouge. 

While both Jean Durand (1636-1671) and Pierre 

Durand (1646-1700) might have been in 

New France at about the same time and while 

the two families might be related in their 

French roots, we are not now aware of that 

link. When Roger wrote this news he said, 

“Welcome to the world of genealogy! It's a 

world of dead ends, discoveries, and "time" 

black holes.” 

Although our quest to find a family link to 

Lt. Durand came to a dead end, the journey 

(for me, at least) was its own reward. From an 

inquiry that came over the internet from half- 



In n n Memorium 

Memorium 

Kaye (Durand) Lumley (July 11,1952—December 

31, 2002) died at her home in the Town of Scott, Burnett 

County, Wisconsin following a short illness. The 

daughter of Lewis and Jennie Durand, Kaye married 

Ralph Lumley on March 20, 1982 and bore one son, 

Robert (Robbie), a student at the University of Wisconsin 

in Madison. 

For a time Kaye and Ralph operated two popular taverns 

in the Spooner area. Kaye was also employed for 

many years as supervisor of support services at the 

health clinic in Spooner and served as an emergency 

medical technician (EMT) for Scott township. 

She was interred in the veterans cemetery in Spooner. 

In addition to her husband Ralph and son Robbie, 

Kaye is also survived by eight siblings. A sister, Virginia 

(Durand) James, read a moving and at times humorous 

remembrance of Kaye’s final illness and of her 

life. 

The eulogy will soon be posted on the Foundation’s 

website under Family Stories at www.durandfoundation. 

com. Readers can read and print a copy from that link. 

Links on the Website 

From time to time the Foundation will provide access 

on its website to items like this eulogy, making them 

more generally available without the cost of printing. 

(Continued from page 10) Durand Field 

way round the world we brought back into view the 

story of a young man who lost his life in the service of 

his country. Our efforts, incomplete as they are, will enrich 

those who are preserving the history of that young 

man’s family, and we provided those who are writing 

the history of the Pacific Theatre a human side of this 

particular story… a story well worth the telling. 

While Chris Ward of Australia has only a marginal 

interest in Durand family history, he sent us a list of Durands 

who served in the Australia military during World 

War II and census information concerning Durands. After 

we emailed him a copy of the article in the last 

Newsletter about Durand Field , he wrote back: "I'm a 

bit worried about the potential for 15,000 Durands 

emailing me for the "unique pleasure" of being addressed 

as "G'day, mate" but I reckon we can handle it!" 

He later provided this additional information: 

“The street sign [named after Lt. Durand] uses the abbreviation 

"Tce" after Durand. I am not sure if that abbreviation 

would be familiar to you guys in the States. It 

is the abbreviation for the word "Terrace" which strictly 

means a raised area but is loosely and widely used in 

Australia instead of street, road or avenue etc. Durand 

Terrace I guess could be regarded as a true terrace as it 

is raised above the Main North Road which is adjoins.” 

11 

Foundation Website Gets New Look and 

Hosting, Courtesy of VoyageurWeb 

When Yvonne Cariveau joined the Foundation board 

of directors she brought more than her connection to another 

branch of the Durand family. She brought professional 

expertise in web design. 

For the past ten years Yvonne has owned and operated 

a business in Mankato, Minnesota called VoyageurWeb 

that employs 13 staff who design, host, and maintain 

internet websites. 

New homepage for www.durandfoundation.com shows the 

family crest and simple links that help the user move around. 

Yvonne founded the company with her husband Dale 

Karsten in 1993 under the name Internet Connections as 

an internet access and website business. After restructuring 

the business to do websites only in 2001, Yvonne 

changed the company name to VoyageurWeb. 

(Continued on page 18) 

Another quest…. 

In researching the story of Durand Field we learned of 

another Durand from Wisconsin who was also an airman 

and who also died in the service of his country. 

Staff Sergeant Frederick W. Durand of Hurley, Wisconsin 

was killed in action on August 1, 1943. Sgt. Durand 

was with the 67th Bomber Squadron, 44th Heavy 

Bomber Group in Italy. He was awarded the Distinguished 

Service Cross, the Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf 

Clusters, and the Purple Heart. 

Preliminary research reveals that Sgt. Durand’s family 

was involved in the mining industry in the Hurley area. 

Can anyone shed any light on these Durands and 

where they came from?


Specia l to th e Durand Heritage F oundation Newsletter... 

Senior Citizen Editor Performs 

Amazing 

Skydive Rescue in Bright Blue Skies of Texas! 

On First-ever Jump from Aeroplane He Saves a Hapless Diver 

from Certain Death in Plunge from 13,000 Feet! 

Witnesses Applaud Safe Landing at Skydive San Marcos near Austin! 

Heroic Feat Is Captured in Photos by Editor’s Nephew, Clint Skywalker! 

As I peered out the open door of the 

twin-engine airplane almost 2½ miles 

above the ground I felt the guy behind 

crowding me closer and closer to 

the open door and the great abyss. I 

figured that he was really eager to try 

out his parachute because he kept the 

pressure on. Me, I wasn’t so sure. 

Things looked mighty small down 

there. Then all of a sudden he must 

have pushed me out of the plane because 

I was thrust into a sudden buffeting 

roar of wind and confusion and 

spinning and wondering, What in the 

hell is going on? I hadn’t expected 

that the terrific blast of air I felt as 

soon as I left the airplane would be 

so powerful, playing me like a twig 

in a raging river. 

Soon I was falling in a more 

friendly way, however, belly to the 

earth, and as I looked down at the 

checkerboard of roads and fields I 

thought to myself, Geez, this is pretty 

nice! 

Then I became aware that the guy 

behind me on the plane was on my 

back and that we were both plunging 

to the earth. I remembered that my 

nephew Clint Skywalker had said that 

a free-falling diver in the belly-down 

position falls at about 120 mph. No 

kidding! The constant blast of air on 

my face at that speed made my mouth 

spread in a grin that was wider than 

my own grin of 

pleasure.. 

“Hold on,” I 

yelled to the guy 

on my back, not 

knowing what 

else to yell, except 

maybe 

“HELP!”. But the 

roar was so 

strong that I’m 

pretty sure he 

didn’t hear me 

Top left The mystery is solved of where fight promoter Don King gets his hair 

done...he jumps from an airplane. Above The mean gyrene getting ready to spin the 

author, unbeknownst to the author. Next page, top Author performs a difficult 

crossed arms maneuver at 120 mph to indicate that all is well. Bottom Author brings 

Doug safely to earth in the pea gravel. After taking his photos early in the jump, Clint 

Skywalker dove to the ground so that he could record the editor’s landing. Bottom 

right Beautiful woman called author a toad and kissed him on the cheek. 

12 

and we continued to plummet to 

earth together. I found myself thinking 

about the heavy-duty snap-rings 

on my harness and realized that if 

we stayed buckled together that I 

could get him safely back to earth on 

one parachute provided the snaprings 

didn’t pull loose or straighten 

out or the stitching fail or the harness 

suddenly shred in the violent air 

stream. The landing might be a little 

rough with two guys on one chute, 

but I’ve seen enough James Bond 

movies to know that anything is possible 

in this world of high adventure. 

Suddenly Clint Skywalker swam 

into view right in front of me. I could 

have reached out and touched him. 

His hands made little fish fin motions 

as he stayed in position in front of me 

taking pictures with the cameras 

mounted on his special flat-top helmet, 

his cheeks puffing every few 

seconds to send a shot of air to trip 

the special shutter of his fancy digital 

camera. Another camera on his helmet 

shot video. I wondered if I could 

communicate to him the unique situation 

I found myself in—a novice skydiver 

on my first free-fall— 

For What It’s Worth


responsible for getting the guy on my 

back safely to earth! 

Actually I felt pretty confident. We 

still had a long way to fall before anything 

got critical. I had a sudden insight 

that that was one of the virtues 

of falling from a great height—so 

long as you keep falling you’re in 

good shape. It’s only when you run 

out of room to fall that you have to 

make adjustments. 

I was lost in my pondering of such 

intricacies of skydiving when another 

skydiver grabbed my left arm and 

gave me a gentle yank to get my attention. 

I hadn’t seen him coming on 

but I recognized him as a retired Marine 

colonel I’d met on the ground 

before we took off. Boy, was he fit! 

In fact, everybody hanging around the 

airstrip and waiting their turns on the 

airplane that shuttled divers into the 

blue were fit-looking men and 

women. The other thing was, a lot of 

them smoked cigarettes. Between 

jumping out of airplanes and smoking 

cigarettes I figured they must like to 

live on the edge. 

By his hand-signals this Marine 

seemed to be asking if I needed help 

in getting the guy on my back safely 

to the ground. Me? Need help? Pooh! 

I gave him a thumbs-up indicating 

that I was doing very well at plunging 

through the skies by myself, thank 

you. He gave me a thumbs-up salute 

in return, then playfully grabbed my 

arm again and gave me a yank that 

13 

spun me around 360° a couple of 

times so fast I thought I’d left my 

goggles behind. Everything happens 

so quickly when you’re falling 

through the air! Your belly’s like a 

ball-bearing poised on that column of 

air you’re falling through and it doesn’t 

take much of move to send you 

spinning. 

Then this playful Marine must have 

grabbed my foot and given me a spin 

in the opposite direction because I 

suddenly caught up with my goggles 

going the other way. This whole maneuver 

was so fast that I scarcely 

knew what was going on. Nonetheless, 

when this playful gyrene swam 

into view again I crossed my forearms 

in the universal skydiving signal 

of “I’ve got it under control” and he 

nodded, tipped up like a swimmer 

heading for the bottom, and disappeared 

in the distance below. 

Then the guy behind me must have 

panicked. Suddenly I felt a terrific jolt 

that planted me hard in my harness 

and I knew that before I told him to 

release the canopy that he’d reached 

around to pull the little ball that 

opened our chute. 

After the roaring rush of air during 

our freefall the sudden silence was 

like the eerie quiet before a storm. 

“Take us home,” the guy behind me 

said. His voice sounded pleading. 

Maybe he was afraid our snap-rings 

wouldn’t hold much longer. 

Perhaps 4,000 feet below I spied the 

circle of pea-gravel that was to be our 



(Continued from page 13) Amazing Skydive! 

landing zone. Fumbling for the slings that controlled our 

canopy I swung us gently around in the direction of the 

LZ and enjoyed the view. This was more like it!—a 

gradual, tranquil descent to earth! Just to put a little 

thrill into my rider’s final moments though, I yanked 

down first on the left hand control and then the right 

hand control, maneuvers that swung us violently in 

sweeping circles first one way and then the other. “Just 

like those chair swings at the fair!” I yelled back at him. 

“That’s enough!” he cried. Maybe he was getting sick 

to his stomach. I quit my shenanigans. I certainly didn’t 

want him to throw up on my head. 

When we were about 1,000 feet above our destination 

he asked if he could take charge and land us. Why not? I 

thought, he’s probably embarrassed about following me 

too closely out of the plane. Anyway, I’d brought him 

within sight of a safe landing. I didn’t need any more 

ego gratification. I relinquished my control of the canopy. 

“I’ll keep my feet up and out of the way,” I called in a 

too-loud voice, still not used to the quiet. “Just steer us 

towards the pea gravel and give a strong pull down on 

both controls at the very end to flare us to a stop.” 

As we sailed closer and closer to what I saw was going 

to be a really good landing I gave an invisible tip of my 

hand to the guy on my back. His name was Doug, and 

even though he’d messed up by pushing me out of the 

plane before I was really, really ready he’d done a good 

job of hanging on so that I could get him safely to earth. 

WHOOSH! our canopy said as we swooped to the 

earth. I raised my legs high so that Doug could get his 

feet down and feel like he was controlling our landing. 

And suddenly I was standing in the pea gravel. 

Wow! This guy had pushed me out of airplane almost 

2½ miles above the earth for the first time in my life and 

I’d gotten him safely down to earth on my back! 

“Good landing, Doug” I said as I shook his hand, 

“You did really good.” Actually, I figured he owed me 

plenty for letting him ride my back all the way to earth. 

“So, did you!” Doug said, “You did a really nice job.” 

Just then a beautiful woman who had tumbled from 

the plane after me and who had witnessed the first part 

of my heroic feat swooped out the air and landed on her 

butt in the pea gravel. Springing up and releasing herself 

from her canopy, she bounded over to give me a big hug 

and a kiss on the cheek. “You did good, Toad! You did 

really good! Wasn’t that fun?” 

I reached up to touch the place where she had kissed 

me. “Yeah, I said, grinning so wide my cheeks would 

hurt later, “That was really great!” I wasn’t sure about 

the “Toad” part, but maybe she figured I was some kind 

of prince under a spell. Anyway, how often does a toad 

like me get kissed on the cheek by a beautiful woman? 

14 

East Coast Durand Boosts Genealogy 

Records with Major Contribution 

An indication that Durand genealogy is alive and well 

on the East Coast recently showed up in Foundation 

president Mike Durand’s mailbox. Robert Durand of 

Fiskdale, Massachusetts sent Mike an impressive, handdrawn 

genealogy chart that traces the complexities of 

his Durand ancestry. The chart (partially depicted below) 

shows his family’s history from the parentage of 

Jean Durand dit La Fortune in the 1600’s to the death of 

Frederick L. Durand on April 9, 2002. 

Carefully drawn genealogy chart shows the skill that engineer-trained 

Robert Durand brought to his depiction. Photo 

on the right corner is of Cleophas (Clifford) and Olivine Durand, 

second cousins and descendants of Louis Durand, another 

instance of cousin/cousin marriage among Durands. 

Robert Durand’s chart provides genealogical information 

about the descendants of Cleophas and Olivine Durand. 

The Foundation’s genealogy records end with 

Cleophas and Olivine. Robert Durand’s information 

thus fills in the family genealogy from the time of their 

marriage to the present. Cleophas went by the name of 

Clifford after he moved to the United States, where his 

and Olivine’s first child was born in 1878. 

Robert Durand’s information will be added to the 

Foundation’s records and uploaded to the website. 

Something You Don’t Need to Know 

Cleophas is a name from the Bible meaning “the 

whole glory.” Along with the mother of Jesus, another 

Mary at the scene of the crucifixion is described 

as the wife of Cleophas. Some suggest that 

Cleophas was the brother of Joseph. Thus, the two 

Marys at the crucifixion would have been sistersin-law. 

Not wanting to appear too obvious, I leaned over and 

kissed her cheek in return. “Man! That was really fun!”


Durands in the Military 

Another WW I Veteran Discovered, a Combat 

Soldier Wounded in Action 

Robert Durand of Fiskdale, Massachusetts sent the following 

newspaper clipping from The Putnam Patriot of 

November 15, 1918 which reproduces a letter written by 

his uncle, Ernest J. Durand. 

Thirteenth Time Over Top Unlucky 

Private Ernest J. Durand of Putnam Carrying One 

of Fritz's Souvenirs In Left Thigh---Cleaned Out 

Machine Gun Nest and Captured Hill 240. 

Private Ernest J. Durand, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford 

Durand, Woodstock Avenue, writes home and tells his 

parents how he got his "blighty," 

Here is the story as he tells it: 

"I have at last found time to write 

you a line and will give you all the 

news possible. I couldn't write before 

for all we have been doing is 

driving Fritz towards Berlin. I was 

in one drive from the 12th to the 

17th of September. Then we left 

that front and came way up on the 

Champagne front and the drive 

there lasted nine days. 

“I was wounded by a machine 

gun October 9 th and I am writing 

his letter in a base hospital. Now 

don't worry about me or my wound. 

It is only one of Fritz's steel souvenirs 

in the left thigh. It is not a serious 

wound at all. 

"I will try and give you an idea of 

how I was feeling the morning I got 

my 'blighty.' We had been fighting 

for eight days then and the Huns 

were resisting pretty hard in front 

of us. Three days before we had 

captured a hill which the French 

thought it was impossible to take. 

When we stormed the hill the Germans 

had so many machine guns 

that you couldn't hear yourself 

think from the noise of their popping. After one of the 

prettiest little scraps that was ever pulled off we took the 

hill and stayed there for three days and on the eve of the 

third day I was wounded. I got orders from the commanding 

officer that we were going over the top at 8 

o'clock the next morning. 

"I was chief runner for the battalion commander and 

had sixteen runners under me. Now, I always had confidence 

in myself until that morning, when I felt myself 

slipping. Well, the barrage opened up a 7:57 and at 8 

o'clock it started rolling ands we started forward. Talk 

Barrel-sitting Ernest J. Durand (right) with 

an unidentified friend in this photo taken on August 

15, 1919 in Germany. Durand served with 

the 18th Infantry, 1st Division, 2nd Battalion. 

15 

about your machine guns--all you could hear was rat-tattat-tat-tat, 

and the old bullets were just singing by my 

head. All the time I had a hunch that I was going to get 

hit because it was my 13th time over the top and I felt 

that this was an ill omen and unlucky. 

"I said to myself, 'Durand, you stick to it if you die,' 

and I can now say that I did my lull duty without flinching. 

All I've got to say is, I have one consolation and 

that is that when we started out we started with just a 

few men and then a support battalion came along and 

leap frogged us and my commanding officer said to me: 

'Durand, my battalion is gone and I am going back to 

the regimental P.C. and see the colonel. What do you 

think is best for you to do with your 14 men?" 

"I told him I would go ahead and 

see what I could do. I sure had a 

game bunch in back of me, so we 

started forward. I stopped a machine 

gun shooting on our left 

flank, so I detail one man with 

seven under him to go to the left 

while I started on the right with the 

others. It was in some woods and 

the machine gunner couldn't see us 

for we were crawling on all fours. 

We got within fifty yards of him 

and we had it all planned out that 

when I fired the first shot everybody 

would fire. There were five 

of them manning that gun and I 

picked up my Springfield rifle, 

took dead aim at the gunner and 

pulled the trigger. He gave a yell, 

put both hands to his head and fell. 

At that moment the others opened 

up and we sure did clean out that 

nest. 

"We again started forward. I spotted 

another one and we started for 

him, but he got me before I could 

get him. Our taking Hill 240 was 

reported in a French paper. 

"Don't worry. My wound, although 

severe, is not serious and I will 

soon be stepping out again: we are having victory on all 

fronts and believe the war will soon be over. It is only a 

matter of weeks now." 

What’s the Connection? 

Ernest J. Durand was one of 16 children born to Clifford 

and Olivine Durand (see p. 14). Born in 1898 in Warren 

Massachusetts, he married Rose Dumont in 1923 and 

produced one daughter, Muriel, who preceded him in 

death in 1961 without issue. Ernest died in 1969 and his 

wife Rose died in 1994.


Presidents Message 

By Mike Durand 

It was just a few years ago 

back in 1998 when we produced 

the first edition of the 

Durand Heritage Foundation 

newsletter. I used to conjure 

up material and assemble it 

into somewhat of a meaningful 

fashion for what I supposed 

might be of interest to 

our readers. I pulled together 

Mike Durand 

some material that others had 

written and reproduced and 

subsequently canned it into 

this new labeled product called the “newsletter”. And 

about two years ago, I unloaded the job and editing and 

compiling the newsletter to my “cousin John”. 

Finding material of significance to our members is a 

constant ongoing problem. It has to meet certain criteria 

I am told. It can’t be so specific to not be of interest to 

those families that don’t know this or that family link, 

but rather, it should be general enough to be of interest 

to the broad population of our readers. Not an easy task 

I might remind you. 

As I look at the content of this edition, I think how 

fruitful our efforts have been. Our expectations have indeed 

been realized. We received input from so many 

sources, and in fact from places half way around the 

globe. Most of it comes though contact with either emails 

or letters. It’s an interactive process that gets 

strained and I suppose a sanitized version palatable for 

the readers to digest without getting indigestion. 

This is exactly what I and others had envisioned from 

the beginnings. After all the newsletter was to be the 

voice of the people. I think it is serving well in that capacity. 

But the Foundation efforts are more than just about 

the publication of the newsletter. If we are going to sustain 

ourselves, (nobody guarantees the long-term success 

of the organization), it requires a lot of effort and 

determination in areas not yet explored. Fortunately, we 

have had many people come forward to volunteer their 

time and expertise to make it happen, and make the 

foundation efforts continue to grow in scope and nature. 

I’d like to begin to list some of them, but I think you 

know who they are and what they have contributed. 

Often times, when I attend a funeral or wedding, I am 

surprised to hear of the number of people who have 

heard about me, or the Foundation efforts. With a little 

probing, I soon to begin to learn that they have read a 

recent edition of the Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter. 

Or they heard about the Foundation efforts from 

this or that source. Sometime, I learn, a current newslet- 

16 

ter edition is provided by one of their parents, sister, 

brother, aunt or uncle! Therefore, I have calculated that 

our readership is fast approaching a figure of somewhere 

near one thousand. I think that’s a conservative 

estimation by the way. 

To date our efforts to bring in outside vendors or partners 

to buy advertising space, and to support our efforts 

has not materialized. We will discuss the reasons for this 

at the next Board meeting. 

I am not disheartened by all of this though, as I know 

we provide a good product and service to our customers, 

(you the readers). As you look at the results of our survey, 

(page 17) you will also enjoy the feedback from 

our membership. 

With the new overhaul of our web site I am working 

on some new projects with Yvonne, our web mistress. 

Here is what we have planned. Soon you will receive 

regular mailings by e-mail. No more waiting for three 

months or so for our only correspondence, the next 

newsletter. Instead you will receive regular mailing that 

will have files attached that will bring you current news 

as well as offers for special products and order forms. 

Or, they might be articles on the care and storage of important 

documents or photos. Some of the other items 

that I have in mind are (1) A CD-ROM with all the editions 

of the newsletter in PDF format. This would be a 

great way to store information electronically in one 

place. No more looking for this issue or that issue which 

might be buried in your piles of files. (2) A CD-ROM of 

Great Classical photo’s. We would most likely have to 

separate out the photo’s so they would be more family 

specific. For example, the East Coast Durand’s would 

most likely have little interest in our family photo’s and 

visa versa. 

We are also working on organizing photo’s in our Archives 

at our web site. This is a piece of work in itself. I 

began this project a couple of years ago but stopped realizing 

that other people who have experience in doing 

this type of work would better serve our long term 

goals. No one wants to start a project and then find out 

later that it all has to be redesigned. I have learned that 

it’s best to leave the detailed work of web site construction, 

electronic file storage etc. to those that work in this 

all the time as a profession. I have no expertise in this 

area. Yvonne has already spent countless hours along 

with her staff at Voyageur Web to start on these projects. 

All of our efforts are strictly voluntary. If you have 

expertise in some area that you think we might need assistance 

with, please let us know. Those of us involved 

in the Foundations efforts walk a fine line between volunteering 

too much and insanity! Some of us might already 

be past the point of no return towards the road to 

insanity!


Membership Survey Results 

By Mike Durand 

Included with the Winter 2002 newsletter was membership 

survey form. This was our first attempt to gain 

information in the form of “feedback” from our members. 

Although we had often received unsolicited feedback, 

this was our first attempt to gather information on 

a larger scope and using a more formal procedure. 

A total of ten survey forms were completed and returned. 

All of them came from non Board members, just 

in case you have a tendency to think we stuffed the ballot 

box. These responses represents about a five percent 

rate of return of our total membership. It was good to 

read the individual comments that most everyone included. 

I have shared this information already with the 

other Board members and we will further discuss the 

results at the upcoming Board meeting. Also, I plan to 

upload the forms combined into one file into our archives 

for you to likewise read. My original intent was 

to provide the results in a table form, but instead I have 

summarized it below according to each individual question. 

So lets get started! 

The individual response categories for each of the 

questions were. ( ) Outstanding; ( ) Good; ( ) Above average; 

( ) Average; ( ) Below Average; ( ) Poor; ( ) Very 

poor. 

The first question asked, Generally speaking, from 

what you know, how would you rate the over-all well 

being of the Durand Heritage Foundation? 

The responses were as follows– (4) Outstanding; 

(4) Good ; and (2) Above Average. 

The second question asks; How would you rate the 

Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter in terms of 

content? The responses were as follows; 

(4) Outstanding; (5) Good; and (1) Above average. 

The third question asked; How would you rate the 

Newsletter in terms of layout? The responses were as 

follows; (6) Outstanding; (3) Good; and (1) Above average. 

The fourth question asks; How do you feel about the 

change from black-and-white printing to color and 

the increase in price from $15.00 per year to $ 20.00 

per year? The responses were; (5) Outstanding; 

(4) Good and (1) Average. 

The next question required a (yes) or (no) response. 

Have you ever visited our web site at www. 

Durandfoundation.com? 

The responses were, (6) Yes; and (4) No. 

The sixth question asks. How would you rate the 

overall content of the web site? The responses were 

(2) Outstanding; (1) Good; (1) Below average. The remaining 

six did either not respond or indicated that 

they hadn’t ever visited the web site. 

17 

The seventh question asks; How would you rate how 

easy it is to move around in our web site? 

The responses were (1) Outstanding; (2) Good (2) Average. 

The remaining did not respond to this question. 

Question number eight asks; What kind of a job do 

you think the Foundation officers and directors are 

doing? (6) Outstanding; (2) Good and (2) Above average. 

Other questions were soliciting narrative comments, 

and I think many of these responses provided some of 

the most helpful information. Below are a sample of 

some of the responses. 

Robert Durand from Spooner, WI commented that 

the “Membership fees should keep the Foundation financed” 

and in regards to our web site he stated that 

“we need to keep dated-news-announcements, general 

information even Board minutes up to date” . With regard 

to the most important issues or tasks that the Foundation 

Board should be working on at this time; Robert 

states; “ The Board should set up committees from the 

general membership to work on projects; membership 

enrollment; programs; fund raisers; etc. The Board 

should set goals and needs; general membership to 

help”. 

Curtiss DuRand from Davis California also provided 

some helpful insight in response to the same question. 

He thought the important areas that the Board should be 

working on included; (1) What does it mean to be a Durand? 

(2) Facilitate development of local/regional Durand 

gathering like very extended Durand family picnic 

in Northern California– address-phone-email list for 

those who permit it”. 

Mary Ann Durand Balding from Virginia Beach, 

Virginia provided some helpful and interesting commentary. 

She states that she “ enjoyed the connection to 

other Durand’s” She worked with her husband Ronald 

to translate the Jean Durand and His Posterity book. 

She recalls that “working with Ron to translate Jean Durand 

book was fascinating”. As for the newsletter content 

Mary Ann states that she’d “like to see a mixture of 

history of Durand’s as well as present day achievements” 

She also thought that “the article on Clint Hillis 

and Mary Herzig in the Winter 2002 edition was excellent”. 

Jean & George Batte’ from Navarre, Florida also provided 

lots of good information. Jean writes; “I want to 

respond to your continued efforts in putting out a fine 

newsletter and the latest one is TOPS. The color really 

enhances the appearance overall. It’s very professional. 

Clint Skywalker’s article was very interesting and if I 

were younger I might surprise myself and take him up 

on his challenge and golden opportunity, but I was never 

sporty enough to color outside the lines. Ms. Perfection- 



(Continued from page 17) 

ist with a motivation gift of organization, like my dad, 

would never allow myself outside the lines! But tell 

cousin John we only live once. Also, George says he’ll 

do it if John does! Egg on! Anyway, Mike and John and 

all the others serving in behalf of the Durand Foundation, 

THANKS”. 

On the actual response form and in regards to the 

newsletter, Jean further states, “You all have worked 

very hard! Really, more of us who have enjoyed the 

newsletters need to send their stuff in too. We get busy 

and forget. Sorry!” She further elaborated about our efforts, 

“ I especially like the articles, pictures of my generation 

which is cousins and their families, maybe divide 

the issue for the then and now and future generation”. 

As you can see from the tabulation of results, we generally 

were rated quite well if you average everything 

together. I suppose if we were to attach a numerical 

score to the results it might average about 85% out of a 

total possible score of 100. Therefore, I would attach 

anywhere from a B+ to an A-. 

Furthermore, all the responses came from different 

geographical regions of the United States. We had some 

from the West Coast, East Coast, the South and the 

Midwest. 

Perhaps, soon we will upload this form to our website 

so that members will have an opportunity to fill it out 

online and submit it electronically. This will continue to 

provide us with ongoing feedback and add to the totals 

we have on file already. Also, if we would have included 

a pre-addressed and postage paid envelope with 

the survey form included in the last edition of the newsletter, 

I think we would have had a greater response ratio. 

If you haven’t submitted your survey response form 

and you still have a copy it’s not too late to do so. At the 

upcoming Board meeting there will be a wide array of 

prizes and drawings for those who have submitted a response. 

Who knows you might be selected to be one of 

the big winners! 

_____________________________________________ 

Membership Expiration Dates Printed on Mailing 

Labels 

Take a moment to look at your mailing label on the 

white envelope. Notice your membership expiration 

date located above your name and address. The Foundation 

doesn’t send out billing statements. For those 

members with expiration dates 12/31/2002 and earlier, 

they did not receive a copy of this newsletter. They will 

however be sent a reminder letter and if they don’t respond 

they will be dropped from the mailing list. Also, 

their log in name and password will be removed from 

the Archives at our web site. 

18 

Using the Foundation’s website 

Yvonne Cariveau, Webmaster 

Visit the Durandfoundation.com website to renew 

your membership or to purchase books or back issues of 

the Foundation newsletter. On any page of the website, 

click on the Family Store link and you'll see a list of the 

items and types of membership available. 

The Family Store is secured with Secure Socket Layer 

(SSL) encryption, so you can safely put in your credit 

card information to complete your order. 

TIP - if you don't want to use your credit card on 

the internet... 

1. Go to the Family Store link. 

2. Add items to your cart by clicking on ADD TO 

CART button next to the things you want 

3. When you are done, click on CHECKOUT and 

complete the Billing and Shipping page information 

4. Click on CONTINUE 

The next page will give you a nice printout of everything 

you ordered and all the necessary billing and 

shipping information to process your order 

5. PRINT this page using the File/Print commands 

If you followed these directions, none of your information 

was sent via the internet and none of the information 

about you was stored but you now have a nice 

printed sheet to send by mail. 

Print your credit card information on the form and 

send the page to 1501 Rushmore Drive, Burnsville, MN 

55306. 

If you just want a membership form, click on the 

Membership Info link and print the form there to fill in 

by hand and then send it by mail. 

(Continued from page 11) VoyageurWeb 

One of her first offers of help to the Foundation was to 

use the professionalism of her company to redesign the 

Foundation’s website to make it more user-friendly and 

visually appealing. The original Foundation’s website 

was constructed by Derek Brusegard when he was only 

15 years old, a rather remarkable achievement. Derek 

has since graduated from high school and entered college. 

He earlier requested that he be relieved on his 

website responsibilities. 

Yvonne reports that her staff enjoy a relaxed, learning 

atmosphere and get to interact with people from all over 

the state and country in many different lines of work. 

VoyageurWeb recently won the Mankato Area Council 

for Quality Corporate Award. 

Learn more about VoyageurWeb by visiting www. 

voyageurweb.com 

Yvonne's email address is yvonne@voyageurweb.com


Newspaper Article on Sister Manette Prompts 

Marie Miller to Write of Global Volunteer 

Work in Jonestown, Mississippi 

Hi, John: 

One of my daughters in MN sent me the article about 

Sr. Manette. It brought back so many memories. It 

really did not state adequately the huge amount of work, 

Sr. Manette directs. Jim and I observed this in 1996 and 

1997 during the time we spent volunteering for her. 

We joined a group of Global Volunteers being sent to 

Jonestown to do whatever was needed. The one stipulation 

was that we live like the people of the town, and 

we had to work with a resident of the town. In other 

words, no highhanded stuff. We were there to support 

them, not to impose our values on them. Jim and I had 

no idea Sr. Manette was there, an LPN running the 

Health Clinic. 

I think she had only two other nuns when she started 

the clinic in a renovated old building that was empty. I 

can only describe her as a dynamo in action. Her grasp 

of the situation regarding the lives of the citizens of 

Jonestown, was very comprehensive. I received the impression 

that first of all she would try to address the 

situations that created the problems. One of the problems 

she tackled was instructing the young, and not-so- 

young people in a better way to handle their marriage, 

or in most cases, not married, responsibilities. She did 

this with determination and kindness. 

Those two qualities—determination and kindness— 

go hand in hand with her concern and love of the people, 

no matter what the situation. She also could be very 

firm in insisting that each one had to take responsibility 

for their own actions. Her energy seemed endless. I 

think each night God poured a new measure of strength 

and wisdom in her and her two sister helpers. 

Not only did she try to beautify the lives of the people, 

but I saw her single-handed dig up the hard earth 

around the newly painted clinic and plant flowers there. 

She and her sisters planted a big garden to show the 

people that they, too, could grow many of their fruits 

and vegetables. 

This Jonestown, MS in October of 1993 when Jim and 

I were sent there was considered by the Global Volunteers 

to be the "poorest town, in the poorest city, in the 

poorest county in the poorest state in the whole United 

States." It had a peanut factory and a cotton gin. When 

these two plants were not operating people just relaxed 

and waited for their welfare checks. 

The fact that transportation was nonexistent was another 

problem. Jim was involved in a lot of the mechanical 

and engineering things, even to climbing down 

into the sewer to clean it out. He was helped by a sturdy 

man from the town. 

19 

I helped out at the school, which, by the way, would 

be graduating the first high school graduate that year. If 

I remember rightly, city water had just become a reality 

a year or two before we were there. 

Sr. Manette led the insistence on cleanliness and 

taught the virtues of reliability and hard work. Of course 

there must have been some failures, but the people I saw 

and talked to were so thankful for her and the clinic. 

…We enjoyed our two sessions of volunteering there. 

The second one was really just to visit over the Easter 

Holidays. Of course we did more than visit! and we enjoyed 

it all. I would urge anyone who reads the Durand 

Foundation Newsletter to contact her and ask if she 

needs any help. 

I think she would not hesitate. 

I missed seeing her by one day last summer. We were 

back in Minnesota to bury my husband's remains on our 

daughter and her husband's farm in Plainview. Sr 

Manette was in Wisconsin for the Durand reunion and 

intended to meet up with me. Sadly, I had already left 

for Tucson. 

Sincerely, Marie Miller 

9350 E. Speedway, #5 

Tucson, Arizona. 85710 

Website Family Tree Brings Delight and a 

Letter from Trisha O’Connor 

Hi John! 

I have been researching my family tree and I was so 

happy to see my name on the Durand tree! I was so 

happy to see that I am the 10th great-granddaughter of 

Louis Durand! I was happy to see that my grandfather, 

Raymond O'Connor, is the 8th great-grandson of Louis. 

Imagine my surprise when I saw the father of my grandmother 

there—Raymond Jandro who is the son of Albertina 

Thibodeau, daughter of Olivia Durand. He and 

Catherine Lonien had my grandmother—Eileen Jandro—and 

she is also the 8th [generation] granddaughter 

of Louis. The common connection between the two is 

Louis down to Joseph Durand—one child from each of 

Joseph's marriages. My grandparents are actually half 

4th cousins! The Durand website does not reflect this. I 

noticed she is not listed with Raymond Jandro. She is 

listed as spouse to Raymond O'Connor, but her first 

name is spelled wrong. I thought it was so neat to find 

all this out and see my roots! 

Trisha O'Connor 

jcdurand3391@charter.net 

Send your letters to: 

John C Durand 

624 East Market Street #103 

Elkhorn, WI 53121


The back page… Next issue will feature an article on the family of Nazaire Durand, who moved from Minnesota 

to Canada in the early 1900’s. Ellen Durand Olson worked with Mavis Johnston of Hanna, AB, Canada, Nazaire’s 

great-granddaughter, to put together this piece of family history. Peter Keppel processed the photos. 

Interested in the Durand Heritage Foundation? Visit our website: www.durandfoundation.com 

(Continued from page 5) God God Calls... 

Calls... 

Lastly, I treasure deeply the approximately 30 religious 

who live and work here in the Delta within an 

hour’s drive of Jonestown who share daily community 

life and friendship. They represent 12-14 religious communities 

all striving to God’s work. 

I hope each of you has a chance to tell your story 

about your faith-filled journey through this life, as I 

(Continued from page 6) Flying Nun 

she is still a treasure of memories for me. I figure it's 

almost 60 years old now. Yes, I know I don't look that 

old. Ha, ha! 

Anyway, for what its worth I thought I would share 

some beautiful moments in my past that remain alive 

today. 

News that this Newsletter would include an article by 

Sister Manette on her career prompted Jean Durand 

Batte to contribute her recollections of a visit to see Sister 

Manette in rural Alabama. The twin daughter of Gilbert 

& Fern Durand, Jean is a nurse, and Sister Manette 

put to work during her visit to Alabama. Jean is married 

to George Batte (USAF, ret.) and lives in Navarre, Florida. 

President 


mikdurand@msn.com 

Vice President 

John Durand 

Durand Foundation Officers 

jcdurand3391@charter.net 

Secretary 

Roger Durand 

rdurand@frontiernet.net 

Treasurer 

Alice Keppel 

amkeppel@uswest.net 

1501 Rushmore Drive 

Burnsville, MN 55306 

Phone 952-431-5610 

624 East Market St #103 

Elkhorn, WI 53121 

Phone 262 723-7750 

76 Marcin Hill 

Burnsville, MN 55337 

Phone 612-898-2896 

1335 Mandan Ave No. 

Golden Valley, MN 55427 

Phone 763-540-0024 

20 

have tried to do. My story is neither special nor unique. 

But telling our stories help us to reflect on how we do 

let our Great God lead us in spite of ourselves. 

To update the Durand family tree, contact: 

Blanche Durand Hammer 

1547 Quail Ridge Road 

Woodbury, MN 53125 

Email: mbmn@attbi.com 

To contact the Durands in the Military Project 

Lt. Col. James F. Durand, USMC 

(Colonel Durand, between postings, will have a new 

mailing address soon) 

Email: JFDURAND@aol.com 

To find out about the Young Writers Project 

Virginia Durand James 

2087 County Road A 

Spooner, WI 54801 

Phone: 715-635-3068 

Durand Foundation Board of Directors 

Mike Durand, John Durand, Roger Durand, Alice Durand Keppel, Tom Bacig, Yvonne Cariveau, Richard Durand, 

Susanne Krasovich, Mary Brusegard, Blanche Durand Hammer 

Newsletter 

John Durand, Chair 


Susanne Krasovich 

Ellen Durand Olson 

Research 

Roger Durand, Chair 

Richard Durand 



Standing Committees 

Records 

Blanche Hammer, Chair 


John Durand 

Membership/Social 

Vacant- Chairperson 

Marilyn Durand 

Mary Brusegard 

Joanne Berres 


The Durand Heritage Foundation is a public, not-for-profit, educational and research corporation chartered in the State of 

Minnesota and operating under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable. 

The Foundation affords no pecuniary benefit to its officers and members.

Durand Heritage Foundation Newsletter

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