Steve Fleury fiddlin’ & singin’ (Fleury Family Photo)

In Loving Memory of Stephen Fleury (1953-2025)

This blog is written in loving memory of my husband’s uncle, Stephen Fleury, who passed away unexpectedly last month. In 2018, Uncle Steve was featured in my blog “Exhibit: Instrumental Stories.” I shared how he had discovered and restored the fiddle that had once belonged to his grandfather, Jean LeRoux (1875-1948). A year later, the LeRoux family fiddle became part of a beautiful exhibit at Traditional Arts in Upstate New York [TAUNY] (Canton, NY). This formidable exhibit showcased over 200 musical instruments from the North Country of Northern New York, ranging from homemade pieces to professional-quality instruments. The collection was complemented by displays featuring luthier tools, family photographs, interviews, and historical context, which beautifully painted a vivid picture of the role music plays in the region.

My husband, Joel Foisy, and his family have deep roots in the North Country. When we were first married 30 years ago, I attended a large family reunion (aka the “LeRoux Rendezvous”) in Mountain View, New York. To my delight, I discovered a group of relatives fiddling. I borrowed a fiddle and joined the jam. What a welcome to the family! Years later in Fort Covington, New York at another "LeRoux Rendezvous,“ Steve pulled me aside and told me he had something exciting to show me. He opened an old fiddle case and revealed his grandfather’s fiddle, recently restored. At the time, Steve didn’t know how to play the instrument, but asked if I would be willing to play a tune as a surprise for the family. I was very happy to oblige.

As I looked over this fiddle with a pretty inlay on its back, I felt a powerful connection to its previous owner. I remember asking the fiddle, "What tunes do you know?" It told me to play “St. Anne’s Reel” and “Reel de Gaspé” for the family. As I played for the stunned relatives, it was clear I had stirred some long forgotten musical memories. Bringing their father’s music to life again was profoundly moving and it was a moment I will never forget. Steve was beaming, and I could feel the significance of that shared memory.

In the years that followed, Steve, a dedicated musician, taught himself to play that fiddle. As a fiddle teacher, I can tell you that learning the fiddle is no small feat! Occasionally, Steve would pull me aside and ask me for a few pointers, but mostly I would grin watching him play tunes on his grandfather’s fiddle. I will always treasure the moments (too few) when Steve and I swapped fiddle tunes. Steve was a lover of history, family, traditions and music. He was larger-than-life and made everyone feel seen, heard, and cherished. I am at a loss for words to fully express what a beautiful soul he was…

Below is an excerpt from my 2018 blog “Exhibit: Instrumental Stories” that features Steve’s wonderful vignette. This weekend, family and friends will celebrate Steve’s life. I quietly smile as I think about Steve and his grandfather playin’ a tune together in Heaven. Rest in peace, Uncle Steve.

~Gretchen

The Return of the Leroux Family Fiddle

As told to curator Camilla Ammirati by Steve Fleury. [2018]

The LeRoux family fiddle has been through a lot. After coming to the states from Ontario, Canada with its original owner Jean LeRoux in 1925, and being played often at house parties around northern NY over the next twenty years, it fell into disrepair while resting under a bed at the family farm in Westville, NY. Jean's grandson Stephen Fleury, the current owner, shares that it had seemed unfixable until he met a distant cousin, Fred LeRoux, at a family gathering, the LeRoux Rendezvous in 2011.

Stephen says: "Fred is a well-known Glengarry fiddler and also a luthier from Apple Hill, Ontario, living only a few miles from my grandfather's birthplace. I brought two fiddles to the reunion for Fred to look at, hoping he could at least use a few pieces on my grandfather's to make one. Uninterested in the "better" fiddle, Fred was instantly drawn to the pile of wood splinters I presented to him, saying in his understated manner, 'Steve, this is a nice fiddle. We can get it talking again.'

So the fiddle went back to the area of its original home in Ontario for a while, recovering its health with Fred's tending. From time to time, Fred would call with a progress report, the first to comment how the fiddle was beginning to reveal that whomever played the fiddle 'must have been a pretty good fiddler,' favoring the higher positions because of the way the neck was worn. A few months later, Fred called to say 'Steve, just listen here for a few minutes.' I don't remember the song he played, but it was sure a sweet sounding voice from that old fiddle. We had a recording of my grandfather singing, but I had never heard the sound of his fiddle until Fred played it over the phone from Glengarry County. That international call sure seemed fitting.

In the time since, I've had fun learning to play it, but nothing tops hearing Gretchen's loving and masterful playing at a Leroux reunion a few years ago, magically re-connecting the younger generations to my grandfather through his fiddle. There were many tears of joy among our cousins, most of whom had never heard our grandfather's voice, but now were hearing his fiddle's.

-Steve Fleury

Instrumental Story’s Exhibit, TAUNY 2018 (Koehler photo)

• [Left] Joel Foisy in front of his family fiddle • [Center] The Leroux Fiddle on display at TAUNY, Canton, NY in 2018 • [Right] Exhibit description (read below)

“This fiddle originally belonged to Jean LeRoux, the great-grandfather of Joel Foisy, (Potsdam, NY.) Jean brought it with him when he moved from Ontario to the U.S. in 1925, and he played it at many house parties around northern NY until his passing in 1948. It has since been kept in the family and played by family fiddlers including Gretchen Koehler (Potsdam, NY), Jean LeRoux's great-granddaughter-in-law and Stephen Fleury (Brewerton, NY), his grandson. The mark on its back, believed to likely represent a Huguenot cross, seems to be unique to a small group of German makers in the mid-1800s.”

The Family Fiddle • In Loving Memory of Steve Fleury

The Return of the Leroux Family Fiddle