Our little house in Savoie
My name is Jean-Claude Buisson. I was born on the 12th of May 1943 in
Modane. I grew up there, and I knew almost everybody in the village. I learnt
about life there. I did my military service there too, which was an experience
I didn’t particularly appreciate.
When I met my wife, I
was 23 and she was 17. One year later we got married. When I announced to my
family that I would marry this young and beautiful woman, who lived in the
Allier, they were surprised because it was quite bizarre to marry a girl who
was not from the region. This event was the beginning of a new life for me,
because I had to move to my wife’s region. We had two children, Isabelle, who
was born on the 12 July 1967, and Dominique, who was born on the 28th July
1972.
We built a house in Diou, which is a very smart village, near what is Le
Pal today. I was an electrician, so I had to travel around France a lot. I also went to many foreign countries, like Egypt and Italy. I could only see
my two daughters at the week-ends. That’s certainly the most important regret
in my life. But I had to earn money to
feed my family. But I was very happy
because my wife looked after them. Our two beautiful and wonderful daughters
became mothers, and we have four grandchildren who are our pride and joy.
The best days of my life were the births of my grandchildren. Two of
them are German, because my eldest daughter married a German. The first one was
born on the 12th of February 1998, and the other on the 19th of October 2001.
And the two others are French, both born on the 23th November 1999 as they are
twins. They are the two I share the most with, because the distance between
Germany and the Allier is really big.
For nearly ten years, during the 1980s and the 1990s, we rebuilt a
chalet which dates from the 1840s in the high mountains of Savoie. This place is very special because the Germans stayed there during the Second World
War. Ten meters away, there is a very impressive shell hole. This little chalet
was at that time the only thing that linked me to my old friends. When I
retired, I wanted to make up for lost time. I knew it was too late for my
daughter, but I wanted to be the best grandfather. So when my grandchildren
were young we went there every year. They loved this place. In fact, I think
that I’ve spent the best moments with my family there, even if it was quite
drastic, because there was no comfort at all.
But they loved it and I’m quite proud of it.
As I said, I was an electrician. As such, I was exposed to a toxic
substance: asbestos. I didn’t know that I was exposed to it for so many years
because the company I worked for never mentioned it. In 2008, the bad news
fell: I was diagnosed as having lung cancer. It was terrible for me. I had to
do chemotherapy every three weeks. It made me sick for almost a week every
time. I was also really sad, because I had just began to take care
of my grandchildren, but I tried not to show it. I wanted them to have good
memory of me. So I decided to fight for them, and for the rest of my family. I also filed a claim against the company. No one ever won a trial against
them, so I knew that it would be a difficult thing to achieve, but I was quite
confident because I knew they were wrong.
For four years I fought the cancer, and the company. I won my trial, and
I’m quite proud of it, but unfortunately for my family, I lost against the
illness...
Article by Simon MERCIER
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