Young and old members of the Baqué family gathered together. Serge Baqué, one of the sons of Pierre (deceased) and Paulette who remained in the village, accompanied by his wife Geneviève and cousins, confided in us: “For many years we wanted to organize, not a cousin reunion, but a Baquénade,” he said with a smile, “to renew this precious family bond for a day. We only meet at funerals in times of sadness. Today, we meet or discover each other with happiness, all generations combined. We are happy to have been able to bring together so many people, well beyond our hopes. Scattered throughout France, 80 members of the family made the trip to the heart of Juillan, the cradle of the family. The Baqué family is an old Juillan family that is known and still recognized. Serge’s grandparents, Louis and Valérie, had 8 sons: the longevity of the name was almost assured. One of these boys, Marcel known as Célou,carpenter, had made the huge cross of the choir of the Saint-Pierre church. André had become a priest. Better known, Hubert, a Juillan figure, who died in 2019, gave his time to the Juillan football club and also “a helping hand” at the Lanusse bar at the time of the Saint-Pierre festival. There was also Robert, Edmond, Guy and Gilbert who had gone to other places. That day, 4 generations of this large family talked about their memories and curiously looked for similarities around Marcelle aged 92, Paulette 88, and Enoa almost a year old. It was a “Spanish inn” around dishes to share and a DJ who made people dance and sing. The great party ended at the end of the night. After exchanging addresses and numbers, the participants promised to meet up again so as not to lose touch with each other again. Moments filled with emotion, laughter, joy but also tears: it was impossible not to think of those who had disappeared.
