Sleeve. Maurice, dean of the French, celebrates his 110th birthday and continues to smile at life

In Maurice Le Coutour’s room, at the Barfleur nursing home (Manche), a work by the designer Chaunu was placed on the wall. Stéphane Bern y designates the very endearing gentleman as the favorite monument of the French.

This Sunday, May 12, 2024, he celebrates his 110th birthday.

I don’t think too much about the fact that I’m the oldest. Before going to sleep in the evening, I go over my life in my head. What I did well, what I would like to change…

A star at the nursing home

You don’t arrive without warning a little in advance to see Maurice. The old gentleman don’t like surprisesand we are not going to change it now.

The phone calls poured in in January, when he became dean of the French. BFM, France Inter, Cyril Hanouna…They all called to find out the guy’s secret, retired for forty-five years.

He declined all interview requests. He didn’t want to see anyone. He said he hadn’t done anything special, that he had become the dean just because someone had died elsewhere. He definitely doesn’t want to be treated differently. He is a very humble person.

When asked if we can take a photo of him, Maurice laughs. “ Well yes, I am beautiful, I have to », he says, mocking.

Sunday morning, a mass for him

The super centenarian has arrivedEhpad three years ago. He would have loved to end his days in this little house Gouberville (Vicq-sur-Mer, Manche) who lives it born in 1914. However, we had to face the facts. It was no longer possible. The falls were worrying. And then, anxiety appeared too often at night.

Even though he no longer lives in the small town of Val de Saire, no one has forgotten the one who was a municipal councilor. A sacred tradition has taken shape, in addition. The bells of his village of hearts ring out at 2 p.m. every year, on May 12, since the illustrious resident passed the 100-year mark.

This Sunday, May 12, 2024 in the morning, mass is even organized in his honor. For several weeks, the family spared no effort to find a priest. Father Mabire agreed to come out of retirement to serve as an officer.

To mark the occasion, the municipal team mounted a barnum for him in the old presbytery. Became a kind of whooping cough at the retirement home, he will be celebrated there on Tuesday May 14, 2024.

Memories before sleeping

In the evening, once the light has gone out, Maurice is remaking the film. The parts of petanque in the midday hour on the clay court near the halls, in Cherbourg. THE families of fishermen, their boats, all this fish which had not been fished during the war.

The filming of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg which blocked the rue des Fossés and was not good for business on market days.

Just, the ears no longer hear very loudly. In case, you have to think about notebook and at pen to make him read what we have to say to him.

“If I wasn’t deaf as I am, it would go very well,” he says. The mind is always alert and full of energy. Every day, or almost every day, Maurice takes a look at La Presse de la Manche.

He mainly looks at the sports section. He always enjoyed football. At the moment he really likes bike racesTHE Paris Saint Germain and Kylian Mbappé.

The circle of life

When he flips through the newspaper, he always stops on the pages of civil status. Growing old also means letting go paradises sailing towards the limbo of memoriesand having to continue moving forward without those who transport. His wife, his son, his parents, his friends….

However, as age passes, Maurice refuses to cling to the past. He always finds a good reason to believe that tomorrow is a promise. Today, in the new Mora room, made available by the municipality of Barfleurthere will be 36 members of the family.

Many of his nephews visited his grocery store in their youth on rue Grande rue, in Cherbourg (Manche). The smell of coffee beans who embalmed it with airs of Proust’s madeleine. Maurice specialized in refueling ships before they set sail. Each boat had its logbook.

As I was a trader, I knew a lot of people. I’m always sad to see a name I recognize in the dead. One day I’ll be there, but that doesn’t matter! My greatest joy in life now is the births in my family. It’s the cycle of life… She hasn’t been too bad to me.

He simply regrets having the feeling that someone took him “eight years” of his youth, with conflicts. Born before the start of the First World War, freedom-loving, he fought during the Second. 80 years later, he has become the oldest veteran.

The heart and its reasons

Maurice has his little one character, And some strong opinions. Sometimes he confesses it, he gets annoyed quickly. When there is love to give, Maurice speaks from his heart. Last year, for his 109th birthday, he insisted on writing a speech himself. And read it too, while you do. The original text is preserved as a treasure in an administration office.

He had put a lot of heart into it. He had written and rewritten several times. He has very beautiful writing, by the way.

Velvet fingers and an iron fist, when the time comes to shake hands. In the morning, after breakfast, he goes to help peel the vegetables.

When he was still at home, Maurice loved cultivating his garden, literally and figuratively.

A fishing fan, he filmed lockers by the sea. He also loved hunting. It must be said, he drove until he was 105, on short trips. Although sometimes he could let yourself be tempted by a belote about fifteen kilometers away.

Iron health

During the day, the retirement home teams see him doing going back and forth in the hallway with his wheelchair. Tells him that he would like to be able to walk another hour a day.

The effort never frightened him. In his early youth, to get a job, Maurice got on his bike and made the daily round trip between Gouberville and Cherbourg.

Oh, I had between an hour and an hour and a half. It’s not a big deal. I knew someone who walked every day between Théville and Cherbourg!

He was never sick. It is no more today. Even Covid, caught a week after the first injection of the vaccine, had to give in to its champion immune defenses.

Those close to him do not see him “losing any” despite the months that pass. At the time, given his condition, the doctor did not hesitate to install a pacemaker… despite his 101 years.

The secret that didn’t exist

He just tells him that he drank a glass of hot water with lemon for a long time before coffee. “In my life, I just had appendicitis surgery. I believe there are no secrets. I’m not an exceptional person. I pay attention to what I eat, I have never smoked…”

Which did not prevent him from living well and enjoying a good glass of wine from time to time. Golden genes, then? With a smile on his face, his nephews do not believe that this kind of thing is transmitted.

When greeting him, Maurice gives one last smile.

Okay, well, now you know how old you will be! Life is beautiful.

After all, to live is to be the age you give yourself.

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