in Rion-des-Landes, her childhood friends and Rugby friends remember

Chis morning, Rion and the Landes mourn Maïté. The famous cook died at the age of 86, on the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21, 2024. And you just have to look at the messages of tribute left on social networks – from the most anonymous of Gascons to to the President of the Republic – only to realize that his disappearance provokes a certain nostalgia. That of a bygone past, of an ancient world, which plunges everyone into their youth, like a necessary comfort to the ambient unease.

Maïté spoke about this life in her autobiography “It’s all simple”, published in 1998 by Robert-Laffont. But today, “Sud Ouest” has returned in his footsteps, to Rion-des-Landes, and has found certain witnesses of his childhood and his early life, that before television (1).

In clogs on the way to school

Their names are Janine (there are even two), Françoise, Pierre and François. All five knew Maïté at different periods of her life. The first three rubbed shoulders with the same classrooms at the local school. “She was born on June 2, 1938 in Pérote, a smallholding in the Cournaou district. She was the third of seven children, remembers Janette Lamarque. Her house was located about 5 kilometers from the town, so she walked to school. And in clogs. On lucky days, his father, Pierrot, came with the mules and brought the children he picked up along the way,” adds the woman who is also a correspondent for the newspaper “Sud Ouest”.

Inside the class, Maïté did not go unnoticed. It is this strong impression that his comrades keep in mind. “Physically already. Because it was the greatest of all. Based on the principle that it was necessary to put the little ones in front and the older ones at the back, the teacher had placed her behind,” remembers Françoise Lalanne, 85 years old, former seamstress and pharmacy technician between Rion and Tartas.

“I felt sorry for the other children who were forced to learn spelling and arithmetic, geography, history, grammar…”

“When she was little, she was already free to speak,” laughs Janine Macque, a former housekeeper and nanny, who had an equally rich community life, with thirty years spent at Secours catholique and Restos du coeur. “She was a crowd pleaser and quite distracted in class. I think she didn’t like school very much,” adds the octogenarian.

Indeed, in her memoirs, Maïté returns at length to this period: “I maintained this obstinate refusal of study until the end. Strangely, I don't even have any memories of the big school, that of M^me Betis. And yet, everyone assures me that I went there. But it was such a punishment for me… I felt sorry for the other children who were forced to learn spelling and arithmetic, geography, history, grammar, all these things to know by heart, locked away all the day. While outside… Outside, there was the forest, the stream, the paths in the ferns, the little birds to find. » This chapter of the book is also entitled “Too much school”. Quite a program.

Singing and theater

But Maïté had more than one string to her bow. And if the young girl did not shine at school, by her own admission, she showed a face unsuspected at the dawn of the 1950s. “We went to church every Sunday afternoon for the choir parish with Father Brèthes. This is where we discovered the real Maïté. She had a very beautiful voice and quite a chest. Her voice carried, she was an alto, I think,” remembers Janette Lamarque.

In 1953, the clique was selected for a national musical competition in Clermont-Ferrand. “We were hosted by the nuns. It was an adventure for us. We were 12 or 13 years old and we had never left Rion,” says Françoise. “A few months ago, at the nursing home, she was still singing songs. ''La Dacquoise'', she never forgot her. And quite a few religious songs too like ''Estela de la mar'',” continues Janette.

It was this same Abbot Brèthes who introduced him to the joys of the theater. In Rion, there were two performances per year. “The main thing was to make people laugh. There weren't many other distractions back then. And Maïté knew how to make others laugh. To play with her, you had to be strong. She couldn't remember the texts, so she improvised. You therefore had to know the roles well to adjust to your part. And she didn’t listen to the prompter,” Janette laughs again.

It is in this environment that Marie-Thérèse Badet – her maiden name – will meet a certain Pierre Ordonez. He worked at the SNCF and played Rugby. They got married and a new life began for Maïté.

At the table with workers and rugby players

A career at SNCF. Twenty-three years at the side of the tracks. If the story is known to many Landes residents, it is still confidential for the rest of France. However, this is where Maïté's life will gradually take a new start. “My fairy tale didn’t begin until I was fifty,” she recalls in her book.

“She was a 'guardian' or a warning if you prefer. Equipped with a small horn, she ensured the safety of the workers who worked on the rails as soon as a train arrived. A tough job, winter and summer, alongside the railway tracks. It was there, between two trains, that she prepared the kitchen for the workers,” recalls Françoise. What was she planning for them? “We don’t remember it anymore, but I know they ate well. Her husband was doing well,” the childhood friends laugh.

It is these meals for the workers that will bring him, over time, to the Rion-des-Landes rugby club. “The headquarters was built in the early 1980s. And we immediately had the kitchens fitted out. It was Gilbert Lassalle, one of the former presidents, who had the idea of ​​bringing her in to prepare meals for the third half,” remember Pierre Cabannes and François Léglise, 78 and 76 years old, two former leaders.

FR3 cameras

And for these strong fellows, something was needed to be invigorating. Garbure, tomato tourin, mushroom omelettes, duck carcasses with parsley and “always cheese and dessert”. Maïté talks about it in her book “It’s quite simple”: “When they win, the supporters offer them bottles and they have to be emptied. So the food, you shouldn't promise them any, hell, you have to mop up after everything you've drunk. Rugby is not like other sports, it's tough, men who drink, who eat, strong men. It's not the same sport as football, softer, less physical. »

“In principle, when we returned, we were no longer very hungry. And no longer thirsty too. At the beginning, there were the 15 players and the managers. And then, little by little, the players’ wives came. In the end, there were around sixty of us at the table. And it all ended around songs in which Maïté played a large part,” smiles François.

In 1983, the Rionnais club reached the final of the French rugby championship. The city is in turmoil. The FR3 cameras arrive for a report. A voice is heard amid the ambient hubbub. Maïté sings. “Who is this girl?” », asks director Franck Bellot. “I didn’t know it yet,” confides Maïté in his memoirs, “but he was looking for a cook to host a family and regional cooking show. » But that’s another story…

(1) This report was produced at the start of 2024, as part of a report that we were preparing on Maïté.