Elegant monument to Canadian shoe manufacturer Oscar Dufresne (1875-1936) and his wife, Alexandrine Pelletier (?-1935) in Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, at 4601 Côte-des-Neiges Road in Montreal, Quebec. Oscar was the older brother of Marius Dufresne, an engineer, architect, and entrepreneur. Oscar went on to become the majority shareholder of Slater Shoe, and a noted philanthropist and patron of the arts.
Alexandrine tragically died suddenly in 1935 on a trip to Florida, and Oscar followed in 1936, just weeks prior to his adopted daughter’s wedding. The inscription on their monument, “Mors pax aeterna”, is a Latin phrase meaning “Death, eternal peace”. Apparently the original design for the sleeping woman was so risqué it had to be changed because the cemetery authorities refused to allow it.
M.A. Kleen 