Alda Yvette DeChamplain was born December 17, 1919, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the daughter of Edmond and Marguerite (Germain) DeChamplain. She was baptised the same year at Tres St. Nom de Jesus in Maisonneuve. In 1921 the family consisted of the parents and three children: Elide C., age 4; Annette M., age 3; and Alda, age 1. The father, Edmond, worked as a "machiniste." Perhaps it was this career that drew them across the border to the opportunities available in the automobile industry of Detroit, Michigan, where the family emigrated to in 1925. By 1930 they were living on Fielding St. in Detroit; and the family had increased by two more daughters: Gabrielle M., born 1922; and Theresa B., born 1928. Edmond was then working as a "tool setter" in an auto factory.
Alda and her sister Elide had left the family home on Fielding St. by 1940, her sisters Annette and Gabrielle were working as "servants", and her father continued working in "automobile parts maufacturing" as a lathe operator. Two more children had been born: brothers Louis, born 1931, and Maurice, born 1935.
Alda Y. DeChamplain last lived in New York City, and she died there at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center on November 12, 1990. She was buried on Hart Island.
Sources: Social Security Death Index; Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007; Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968; 1921 Census of Canada; U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1956; 1930 and 1940 U.S. Federal Censuses.