“She drew until she cried” in her Givraines workshop: the late Bernadette Després in anecdotes from those close to her

If Bernadette Després was known to be the mother of Tom-Tom and Nana, she had become, over time, a child of Givraines. His neighbors and friends, for more than forty years, Jean and Laure Anguera testify:

“She sang in church, in schools… When she was not organizing a village festival with her husband, Denis Charignon, she participated in them.”

The spouses, originally from Paris, born a few streets from each other, were close and supported each other. This is particularly what allowed Bernadette Després to devote herself fully to her art and to travel to Paris every week. “But Bernadette didn’t do anything, I remember crepe evenings that she spent in the kitchen,” remembers Laure Anguera.

Her friends remember Bernadette Després as an inventive, fanciful person who communicated her joy of living. She was also “a hard worker”. She got up very early in the morning and could spend the whole day drawing. Jacqueline Cohen (the screenwriter of the first thirty volumes of Tom-Tom and Nana, Editor’s note) wanted perfection. Sometimes Bernadette would start all over again, drawing until she cried.

Tributes after the announcement of the death of Bernadette Després, mother of Tom-Tom and Nana, including that of the Minister of Culture

A tomb inaugurated in 1990

The Després couple were generous. They were the ones who financed the Pieta of the church of Givraines, they paid Jean Anguera for a car in exchange… For a sculpture.

“Bernadette had to hold Denis's hand, but she wasn't comfortable posing. He shook her so she got up and left,” recalls Jean Anguera. Ultimately, the sculpture was made without a model, but the two spouses appear closely linked to each other on it.

Through the statue, Bernadette Després and Denis Charignon hold hands for eternity. Photo Jeffrey Carpenter

The statue, which is also a tombstone, was unveiled in 1990 in a ceremony that was mischievously called “pre-burial.” That day, Denis Charignon was disguised as a cardinal, Bernadette Després as an angel and Philippe Defosse played a requiem. “People were horrified. But we found it magnificent,” comments Laure Anguera.

premium A new children's book with drawings by Bernadette Després, the mother of Tom-Tom and Nana

Memorable memories from strangers

Bernadette Després regularly opened the doors of her house to visitors, as remembers Laure, 40, who met her for the second time in August 2024. The first was… Thirty years earlier, during a session dedication.

“I visited with my children but I especially came for myself. She opened up her world and it reminded me of my childhood. She was peachy. Bernadette Després had a sense of humor, she made us draw Tom- Tom and Nana at the Paralympics, she sang, explained her job and its evolution To think that we shouldn't even have been able to meet her: the visits were full, but she opened an extra slot for two families. generous of him.”

Jeffrey Charpentier