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Celebrating Life And Lessons Learned With An Identical Twin: Meet Lucile And Cecile

photo provided

photo provided So identical that when dressed alike even their mother could not tell them apart, Lucile and Cecile continue to this day to share the special bond of identical twins.

photo provided Born in 1927, the twins today live in Bristol and hold firm to the values of family, respect, responsibility and community that they were raised on and live their life by.

Tuesday May 21, 2013

By Cookie Steponaitis

There is a palpable energy and connection present in the room when Lucile and Cecile Quesnel are in it. It is intangible to the touch but apparent to the eye, ear and heart. When Lucile starts a phrase Cecile finishes it. When Cecile chuckles at a shared memory Lucile sits forward in her seat and fills in the details, pausing without thought to allow Cecile to continue the story to its conclusion. No event is labeled the property of one or the other. Their life is a shared story and one they have lived with joy since 1927.

    Lucile and Cecile were born identical twins in Leicester, Vermont at the beginning of the Great Depression and grew up on a dairy farm. They still know their way around milking cows, driving teams of horses and raking hay. “We were never bored, that’s for sure,” reflected Cecile.“We loved the animals and the farm. We never really got involved with crafts or cooking. Our mom had her own methods in the kitchen and we stayed out.” And, before a question about cooking later on in life even left the lips of the reporter Lucile chimed in, “After we got married we got a crash course.”

    While cooking was not their expertise canning certainly was. The family’s pantry contained between 300-400 sealed jars at any given time. “When we butchered a cow,” explained Lucile, “we basically had two days to have it all canned.” No electricity was a part of the early life for the girls and they were in fact ten years old when the farmers on Arnold District Road voted to pay to have the power line brought in. “Dad went out and got himself a radio that day,” added Cecile.

    November 1st, 1939 was the official day when the twins made the move to Bristol and the shift from a one room school to the high school on the park. While there was probably only about one hundred students in the whole school the twins were delighted to find another four sets of twins in school. School was also the venue for learning English because the family “kept French at home.” Both Lucile and Cecile remember their father teaching himself English by reading the newspaper. A carpenter by trade he was away a lot on the job and spoke English when dealing with clients. At home French was the language of choice.

    Both twins recounted with enthusiasm about all the wonderful activities Bristol offered for young people. “Dancing, dancing, dancing,” giggled Lucile. “We had dancing at the Pavilion, what is now the True Value Hardware Store and especially on Friday and Saturday night was round and square dancing. We had the Preables Band that played and it was a great time. We dressed alike and we had a great time.” Cecile picked up the conversation adding, “Vergennes and Middlebury people came to dance or on Tuesday and Wednesday they came for movies. Westerns were very popular and at nineteen cents people could come for one or two nights. A twin trick that the paired shared involved Lucile telling any man she really did not want to dance with that she was Cecile and vice –versa. Dressed alike it was impossible to tell the pair apart so each filled the other’s dance card with men.

While both twins fell in love and married at separate times and locations both met their husbands at a dance. Lucile met her husband Edward Skeffington when she was attending Wilford Academy for Hairdressing in Boston. While she admits with a grin that she stood him up on their first date, the second time she knew he was a keeper. They married in 1948 and the couple had two children Mark and Lisa and thirty four years of marriage before Edward’s passing. Today, Lucile looks with pride at her family including grandchildren Stephanie and Christine as proof of a love that has not dimmed with Edward’s passing. Cecile met her husband Harold Lawrence at a class reunion after World War Two. He was known for his superb dancing and Harold asked Cecile to dance.She remembered, “Being greatly afraid that I couldn’t dance well enough to dance with him.” Their dance lasted twenty-two years until Harold’s passing and the couple had three children Simone, Suzanne and Timothy. Today Cecile continues to watch with pride grandchildren Damien, Nicole, Bryan, Elizabeth and Alainna as well as four great- grandchildren progress on their journey in life.
Bristol has been home to the twins for a long time and in November of this year Lucile will celebrate her fifty-sixth year at her beauty shop. “My daughter was six weeks old,” commented Lucille, “when I first opened the salon. Wow, where did all that time go?” Both of the twins celebrate Bristol as a special place to live and one where people do things for each other. While both twins are now great cooks they love to eat out and state the Quiche at Cubbers is to die for and are delighted regulars at SNAPS.

Lucile and Cecile know as twins that they enjoy a unique bond that other siblings do not have. The pair has lived together for the past five years and shares a love of the same television shows, foods, and their faith and are confirmed chocoholics. When asked for advice to pass on to the next generation both sisters went back to their parents’ advice learned on the farm during the Great Depression. “Be honest, Have Patience and Be Good Neighbors,” shared the twins. And then with the synergy that the interview began with, a quick looked passed between the pair and they both exclaimed. “Unplug and talk to each other. Sit at the dinner table and don’t text or type. TALK. Conversation is where it all starts.”

If you need a haircut stop by on Mountain Street and make an appointment with Lucile, or look for the pair together as usual on July 4th sitting on their chairs enjoying the Bristol tradition of the July 4th parade, picnic and Outhouse Races. “We’ll be there,” concluded one twin. “No doubt,” chimed in her twin. Identical in thought, action and life, the pair thrives on celebrating family, faith and being in a community where the values of their youth still live on.

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