the essential
At the Maison de l’Amitié, the staff and firefighters of Albi celebrated the centenary of Pierre Sarrie. A town hall employee and volunteer firefighter, he spent many decades serving others.
Charentaises on his feet, walker in hand, he still walks, his gaze lively. Pierre Sarrie, ex-volunteer firefighter, steps forward to the applause of the generations who succeeded him at the fire station. His eyes widen with surprise: he did not expect to see so many people gathered at the Maison de l’Amitié in Albi to wish him on his birthday. Because this Saturday, Pierre is 100 years old.
The old man is touched by the presence of this audience, which includes long-time friends. He has known them since his years as an employee of the Albi town hall, roads department, then from 1957 to 1983 as a volunteer firefighter. His emotion is such that he cannot hold back a few tears and pours out his thanks.
“Sporty”, “smiling”, “efficient”, “pleasant”, “measured”, “voluntary” and even sometimes a little “trickster” testify his former colleagues. The moving of the barracks, the bike races in which he excelled and soundly beat his teammates, so many memories recounted with a smile on their lips by his youngest children.
“Everything that happened to me, I think about it less and less,” stammers the centenarian who now lives well surrounded at the Maison de l’Amitié. It is an opportunity to reconnect with a past that remains in our memories.
“A life in the service of the Albigensians”
The Albi firefighters say they are “honored” to celebrate this centenary who “embodies cohesion” and whose life “inspires courage”. An officer during Pierre’s young years as a firefighter, André Aymeric proudly proclaims: “In the firefighters, we are a big family and we show it!”
The town hall representatives who came to wish him happy birthday are just as inexhaustible. They salute the busy years of this man with many hats. Hairdresser, but above all town hall employee then firefighter, Pierre accomplished “a life of service to the Albigensians”.
The laudatory speeches and wishes for a long life follow one another. But Pierre has not lost his bearings. He quickly dries his tears and exclaims: “Let’s start eating the cake!”
