“We saw each other in secret for four years”

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HAS 92 and 93 years oldRolande and Georges Fleury celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary at Pin-la-Garenne (Orne). A lifetime of union which therefore dates back 70 years. We are at the very end of the 1940s, after the Second World War. Georges began his working life on a farm in Perche.

He is not even 20 years old, but for this young man born in 1931, the war and the occupation necessarily accelerated growth. He remembers by heart the German parade, the nocturnal expeditions to make flour, or even the location of the Kommandantur in Mortagne-au-Perche. In his memory, it was yesterday, and it will never go away.

Meeting on the farm

A few years later, he was hired to help on the farm. The farmer’s daughter is called Rolande. She is a year younger than him. “She was beautiful and very petite,” says today the daughter of Rolande and Georges, who herself is called Rolande Fleury. “It’s true that she was beautiful,” Georges whispers.

Why did the two like each other so much? He can’t explain it, more than 70 years later. Or rather, they keep these intimate secrets to themselves.

Four years in hiding

What is certain is that at the time, Georges could not display his feelings too much. Their love is discreet, modest. And for good reason, Rolande’s father does not want this union. Too early. “The father first wanted me to have my own farm before taking his hand,” explains Georges with his Percheron accent almost intact.

We must therefore kiss each other out of sight, and love each other without showing it too much. Then comes military service. Georges had to return to Germany in 1951. He spent 18 months there, far from his native Perche. Subscribed to his beloved local weekly which he receives abroad, he follows the news more than 1,000 kilometers from Perche.

But this is not the only pleasure that La Poste will bring him.

I wrote letters to Rolande to give my news. And so as not to let his father see them, I sent by Poste Remaine.

So Rolande went to the Post Office regularly, and in secret, to ask if there were any letters for them. “And when I had it, I answered him, obviously,” recalls Rolande with a smile. “In the end, we saw each other in secret for four years. »

Three children

Rolande, the daughter, speaks with pleasure of a couple who are “very close, very united and always kind to each other. » The secret to longevity? “When we experienced war, the mentality is necessarily different from that of today. It was a different time,” believes the woman who is herself a grandmother today.

Upon his return from Germany, Georges wants to marry Rolande. He therefore decides to settle down with her on a farm. “I started with just one cow,” he remembers with a burst of laughter. He would later make milk, and also deliver his cider, fruit from his apple fields, to the restaurants of Mortagne.

The marriage took place on November 23, 1954 at the town hall of Parfondeval. The meal will be served in Mortagne-au-Perche. Rolande and Georges would later have three children: Aline, Rolande and Jean-Pierre.

This Sunday, November 24, the whole family was gathered around them to celebrate this platinum wedding anniversary. A rare event that should not be missed.

At the Pellonière retirement home, where they arrived only a few years ago, they now each have their own room. “No, we don’t sleep together anymore, that’s how it is,” says Rolande simply. But the couple meets again during the day. To read, to chat and talk about the passing of time. With two people, it always flows better.

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