Léo Lajeunesse, one of six children, was lovingly raised on a small, mixed farm. Situated between the French-Catholic village of Debden, Saskatchewan and, what was then called, Sandy Lake Indian Reserve, he grew up amidst both parkland and boreal forest. Léo caught the tail end of an era when a home with wood stove heating, no indoor plumbing, and a phone on a party line was the norm. His formative years were spent working on the farm as well as enjoying adventures in the bush, the sloughs, and the pastures. This prepared him for his future work as an electricians' helper, derrickman on the oil rigs, and diamond driller's helper. He earned a journeyman's certificate as a bricklayer, a trade he worked at for nine years. He and his wife, Marianne, raised four daughters in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan while managing residential properties. Since his early teens, Léo expressed himself through poetry. After years of sharing his poems at family anniversaries, funerals, and reunions, it is only now, in his semi-retirement, and after completing a comprehensive family history book, that he expands his readership by publishing his poetry.
