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The Després / Wright Family (Written by Sébastien)

I'm an Acadian, originally from the small village of Cocagne, New Brunswick (10 minutes north of Shédiac). I completed my undergraduate degree in Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. After a year studying in Denmark and another year living in Ontario, I made my way to Newfoundland to study Folklore at Memorial University.

That's where I met Heather.

She had just moved from Vancouver, where she'd completed a Bachelor's Degree in Music. She had come to The Rock to complete a Master's Degree in Ethnomusicology. So I stuck around, and did a second M.A., in Religious Studies. I was half-way through this degree when Heather finished hers, so she also did a second one (in Viola and Violin Performance and Pedagogy). When I finished my second M.A., Heather was half-way through hers, so I decided to complete my Ph.D. in Social-Cultural Anthropology.

I started teaching Geography at Memorial University, and we eventually bought a house Witless Bay, where we also opened up a music studio. Three years later, I was elected as Mayor of the Town.

When we became the proud parents of two beautiful little girls (Amélie and Évangéline), home started calling. I wanted my girls to grow up on the beach in the heart of Acadia, surrounded by family - just as I had. So we said goodbye to the island we'd loved and had called home for so long and we found a beautiful house in Shédiac, which we named after one of the characters in Alice in Wonderland: Le Griffon.