Toulouse. Paule blows out her 102 candles on New Year’s Day
On January 1, Paule celebrated her 102nd birthday at her home in the Patte d’Oie district, where she has lived independently for more than 25 years. Paule was born in Caudiès in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Her parents settled in the Toulouse region, but she lost her mother when she was only seven years old and her older sister ten. “I missed his affection a lot, my father, a farm worker, was starving, it was a hassle,” she recalls. The family moved to Saint-Orens, which was the countryside at the time. Paule left school at 10 because, she says, “it was too far from home” and will be placed at 14 as a “good for everything” in a Busca family. All her life during she will do housework.
Arrives the age to go to the ball where Paule will meet her husband son Louis, then it is the years of war and their procession of privations. Her first daughter Georgette was still a baby when her husband was taken prisoner in Germany. He will not return until the end of hostilities and this return will be an unexpected happiness for her. Today, Paule lives alone in her apartment but is well accompanied by her daughters Georgette and Annie who live in the Toulouse region.
“They call me every day and also come to see me,” she says. Four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter, her beautiful descendants adorn the entire wall of her living room. Paule, who went to her 3rd age club three years ago, now prefers to stay at home. Her pleasures: watching TV, even if she can’t see very well, and a few walks despite her tired legs. Her apartment neighbors are also very present and it was with one of them, Madeleine, that Paule shared her second birthday cake, not hesitating to walk up two floors to do so.