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Adam Huras
Telegraph-Journal

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The oldest living Acadian and currently the world's third-oldest living person will be at the centre of the Arsenault family reunion at the 2009 World Acadian Congress.

Enlarge Photo

Michael Moore, pour le Telegraph-Journal

Mary Josephine Ray (née Arsenault) est l'ainée des Acadiens.

Mary Josephine Ray was born Mary Josephine Arsenault in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island in 1895. Now a resident of New Hampshire, she is the oldest person from the Island ever recorded and is currently the 65th oldest person ever.

A new association created to compile the Arsenault Acadian bloodline tracked down the woman, who turned 114 years old on May 17.

More recently, Mary Josephine has been named honorary president of the Arsenault Family Association.

"She was honoured when I told her," said her granddaughter Katherine Ray. "And then she asked me if I was there to play cards.

"She loves playing cards."

Described by her closest granddaughter as a woman of few words with a strong and youthful heart, Mary Josephine still sings French-language songs when asked and is a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox.

At 108 years old, she was invited to take part in singing a rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game in centre field at Fenway Park during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Her Acadian roots are also still with her in notebooks from school.

"She never spoke French to us growing up, but she still remembers things in French," Katherine Ray said. "She only went to Grade 3 in school, but she still has a notebook which is all in French. Notes and songs in French, too."

More than 300 events are planned for roughly 60 communities for the fourth edition of the World Acadian Congress.

A record number of families have already confirmed they will make the pilgrimage to New Brunswick's Acadian peninsula for this year's reunion bash, which runs from August 7-23.

While Mary Josephine will be unable to make the trek to New Brunswick from her residence at the Maplewood Nursing Home in Westmoreland, N.H., a video narrated by her granddaughter that depicts the life of the oldest living Acadian will be shown.

The association found the woman after reading media reports of the 114th birthday of a woman from Prince Edward Island with the maiden name Arsenault.

Tracing back through the Arsenault family tree, Mary Josephine comes seven generations after Pierre Arsenault, the first person of that name to settle in Acadia.

The association voted unanimously to grant her the honorary presidency at a recent meeting.

"She is obviously the person of Acadian origin who has lived the longest throughout history," said Frederic Arsenault, president of the Arsenault Family Association.

The previous Acadian congress was in Nova Scotia in 2004, when more than 800 Arsenault descendants came to learn about their roots.

"What we found in 2004 that people were really interested in terms of going back and learning their family history," Frederic Arsenault said. "We had people on site that if you could say your grandfather was named this, or you have relatives named that then we could go right back and trace it to Pierre Arsenault."

He said Mary Josephine adds a new significance to the Arsenault name going into a celebration where each Acadian family demonstrates its pride and heritage.

"There would not have been an Acadian that lived that long before and it's a sense of pride," Frederic Arsenault said. "It feels like we have one up on the other families celebrating."

Organizers said they expect a large turnout of Arsenault family members. The Arsenault family reunion is scheduled to he held in Saint-Isidore on August 14.