Our second oldest living mayor, Mr. Morand was born and raised in Tecumseh. His six years of office spanned the beginning and the ending of the second world war. These were trying times for the province as one municipality after another went into default. Mr. Morand was instrumental in steering Tecumseh through a refinancing plan - a left-over from the depression era. This scheme which took years of negotiation with the department of Municipal Affairs set the town once again on a financially sound basis - the springboard toward future progression.

Mr. and Mrs. Morand (the former Rena Letourneau) raised a fine family of 10 children, two girls and eight boys, and found themselves with a very unique distinction - six of the boys became priests of the Catholic church. Mr. Morand has another distinction - the only Tecumseh Mayor to become Warden of Essex County; and still another he was invested in the order of St. Gregory (K.S.G.) in 1962. The former mayor is enjoying retirement and good health, and still promotes Tecumseh as the best place to live in Essex County. God bless you Ed.

William Teno [Tecumseh 50th Anniversary]

RENA MORAND, of Tecumseh, counts all her children as blessings from God, but six of them are living signs of that blessing - priests in the Raman Catholic Church.
On Sunday, she will travel, as will four of her sons, to witness the investiture of Father Blaise Morand as monsignor and vicar-general of the Diocese of Saskatoon. Father Daniel Morand, of Sts. Simon and Jude parish in Belle River, will be among the monsignor's brothers attending.
Maria Peltier, of RR 3 Comber, felt the occasion of her uncle's investiture represented the highest honor yet to be paid to her grandmother through the vocation of her sons.
Mrs. Morand and her late husband, Edward. a former mayor of Tecumseh, brought 10 children into the world. Two have left it - one son, Bernard, at four years old, from diphtheria and one daughter, Yvonne, at 47, from cancer.

Her youngest son, Paul is married and living in Tecumseh with his wife and three children. Her youngest daughter, Irene Sullivan, Maria's mother, is married and living in Tilbury.
The six sons, who followed the call to the priesthood are: Father Lionel ordained in 1949, the oldest, of Sacred Heart parish in La Salle; Father Edward, ordained, in 1955, second oldest, of Our Lady of Victory parish in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Father Leonard, ordained in 1956, third oldest, of Martyrs Canadian parish in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Father Blaise. ordained in 1958, fifth oldest, of St. Philip's parish in Saskatoon, Sasketchewan; Father Daniel, ordained in 1959, fourth oldest, of Sts. Simon and Jude parish in Belle River, Ontario; and Father Patrick, ordained in 1960; youngest of the six priests, of St. Vital parish in Fort Garry, Manitoba.
"Often people ask: 'How, did it happen, how come six in one family?' "Maria said. "I feel that it must have been with the family life they had, and of course, the example of my grandparents.
They always showed, and my grandmother still shows respect for the priesthood. She's super special lovable, sweet, considerate".
Mrs. Sullivan said religion was never pushed on the family by her parents, but respect and a sense of responibility were "embedded in our minds."
She said her mother kept her feelings of pride to herself because she ie a very modest woman and has "a deep, deep faith,"
"She lost her daughter (Yvonne) and her husband 16 months apart from camcer" Mrs. Sullivan said, "You knew she was going through hell, but she didn't show it.
"When Father Blaise was ordained she lost her father the same weekend. Imagine the mixed emotions - she buried her father one day and the next was her son's ordination. But she held up through it all."
"Grandmother has had many heartaches in her life besides her great joys," Maria said. "Today she considers herself more fortunate than most widows, she has six (unmarried) sons that make their vacation time at home with their mother."
The six priests-brothers. are in three different provinces today, although all received their elementary education at St. Anthony's separate school in Tecumseh. their secondary education at Assumption High school in Windsor and all attended St. Peter's Seminary in London.
Mrs. Sullivan said it was her brothers' decision to separate, instead of staying in their home diocese in London, because- they thought six Morands in one diocese would "be too much."

Tilbury Times, Wednesday September 10, 1980

Six priests - two of them from Wmnipeg are to meet with the Pope. But the six have something else in common - they are -all brothers.

The thrill-of-a-lifetime audience will take place today or tomorrow and will last 15 minutes. Neither Father Pat Morand - the priest at St. Vital Catholic Church - nor his brother Ed - the priest at Our already of Victory Memorial Church on Osborne - knew which day it would be as they boarded a Rome-bound flight in Toronto yesterday.

Said Father Pat: "We're very excited. It's not every day you get an audience with the Pope."
The two Winnipeg fathers and three of their brothers met their other brother, Bishop Blaise Morand, in Rome last night.

Bishop Blaise was lady there to attend a Bishops' meeting with the Pope. He'd asked the Pope if he would see his brothers - and the Pope said: "Yes."

After meeting with the Pope, five of the brothers intend to visit Jerusalem before getting back to work.

Five of the brothers work in Canada, and the sixth is a missionary in Peru.

The family has a seventh brother and a sister, both of whom are married.

The Winnipeg Sun