Death and Legacy
After Dorion Venier Toupin died on September 5, 1850, she was buried inside the original log Roman Catholic Church in Saint Louis. When the church burned down in 1880 and the current church built, the location of Dorion's grave was forgotten and remains unknown to this day. It was only when the church register was translated from French into English many years after the original church burned down that it was learned that Dorion had been buried there. There is no record of why she received this honor instead of being buried in the nearby cemetery, but church burial requires special dispensation and may have indicated that Dorion was especially devout.
Among the places memorializing Dorion are Madame Dorion Memorial Park in the foothills of the Blue Mountains near Milton-Freewater, Oregon, and the Dorion Complex residence hall at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. There is a plaque noting the place near North Powder where she likely gave birth. Hers is also one of the 158 names of people important to Oregon's history that are painted in the House and Senate chamber of the Oregon State Capitol. Her name is in the Senate chamber.
Author Jane Kirkpatrick wrote the Tender Ties trilogy of historical novels based on Dorion's life.
Read more about this topic: Marie Aioe Dorion
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or legacy:
“if once the message greet him
That his True Love doth stay,
If Death should come and meet him,
Love will find out the way!”
—Unknown. Love Will Find Out the Way (l. 53–56)
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)