Michel Galfré, a life spent learning: “Whatever your level of studies, you can always train”

Starting from the bottom of the ladder to reach the highest grade in the administration is Michel Galfré’s beautiful path in life. Born in Cruas, in Ardèche, Michel Galfré was not at all dedicated to studies. After the school certificate, he left school and became an apprentice baker and pastry chef.

Then, he left this job to become a chrome worker for coat racks in a pottery. But the desire to move being the strongest, he left this job again to become a lumberjack in the Vercors, a hotbed of the Resistance, where he pruned to protect the power lines.

Holder of all permits

In the meantime, he passed all his driving licenses, from motorcycles to heavy goods vehicles, including cars, coaches, construction equipment and boats. Then he arrives in Langogne to dig the drinking water pipes. It is there that he meets Nicole who will accompany him throughout his life. He stayed at the hotel and to make ends meet, he served customers in the hotel restaurant.

Then he passed a competitive exam, the first in a long series, and became a sub-canton worker in Langogne. “Six months later, I passed the state public works agent competitive examination and returned to the Departmental Directorate of Equipment (DDE), where I worked in the safety and prevention design office, and I take the clerk’s exam, which I pass“, he remembers.

Career in administration

Caught in the game, he worked and passed the competition for administrative secretary, then land transport controller. Michel Galfré continues his momentum and prepares the entrance exam for the Regional Institutes of Administration (IRA). For this, he took unpaid leave and enrolled at the faculty of Clermont-Ferrand. He was appointed to the IRA in Metz, before leaving for Bastia. He gives courses to train future administration executives.

He then spent three years in Creuse and three more years in Saint-Flour, as a sworn accountant and equipment manager in high schools, before being appointed to the Academic Inspectorate of Lozère. “I worked for thirty years at the DDE and fifteen years at National Education. Whatever your level of education, you can always train. It still allows me to train others, help them write cover letters or CVs and help them find work. I’m a bit of a public writer, I help young people, like this young girl who had difficulties and who obtained her nursing diploma. I also do diving and I have passed all the diplomas. I have the state first aid certificate. I was also part of the Federal Consumers’ Union and I was at the national office of UFC Que Choisir. I have had consumer products removed from sale. There were 1,400 member families.“

Very invested

He also organized a triathlon in Lozère, was president of the Fontanilles Tenants Association, president of a local radio station and a diving club in Lozère. He also went to Tahiti twice, to train diving instructors in Polynesian territory on specific first aid. Retired since 2014, Michel Galfré is now passionate, with Nicole, about walking, and their grandchildren given to them by their two daughters.