“A cemetery on All Saints’ Day looks like an exhibition on an opening day. » It is with this quote from the Franche-Comté writer Tristan Maya that Jean-Yves Frelet opened the traditional All Saints' Day visit to the tombs of the former Pontissalian mayors. An appointment that he himself established 23 years ago, when he was director of services to the population in charge of cemeteries.
A tribute to 20 mayors
But this year, for once, it was under a blazing sun that the ceremony took place in a small group. The theme of the day was the roads, streets and neighborhoods of the city. The small troop wandered between the different graves to pay homage to around twenty mayors and certain people whose burial anniversary it was.
Thus, Georges Bourdin, at the head of the commune from 1949 to 1959, who created the first cycle path in Pontarlier avenue de l'Armée de l'Est, Charles Joliclerc (1880-1882), who hosted Gustave Courbet at his home when the painter was wanted, and Ernest Deniset, who managed the city during the First World War and the suppression of absinthe.
