François-Marie Cheval

Deceased Sisters

François-Marie Cheval - France
05/02/1929 - 05/03/2021

We are gathered here today for a final farewell to our sister François-Marie. The times in which we are living require that we be few in number. Yet, from afar, many people are united with us. From Brittany, her country of origin, from Toulon where François-Marie was a teacher and director of the Fénelon school, from Senegal where she had the great joy of serving the Lord with her missionary heart and from all the countries where there are Marist Sisters today.

We will now speak of the gift of her 92-year life, giving thanks to the Lord to whom she has devoted herself so generously.

In 1998 - on the occasion of the 50 years of presence of the Marist Sisters in Senegal - Sister François-Marie herself recounted her personal journey. So I'm going to borrow some of her words and add my own for the last 20 years of her life.

“In the country of Redon, on February 5, 1929, two twins were born: Jean and Thérèse, a fat boy, a very little girl. Was she going to live? The vicar of the parish came from time to time to see if this little one was still alive!

At six years old, with school began a new life. My grandmother, who lived very close to the school, took me home to have lunch with her and sometimes babysat me for evenings when the weather was bad. But I missed my brother and our house too. To be able to come home I would say to my mother: "Grandmother doesn't know how to style my hair!"

But to this Grandmother who did not know how to style her hair, she attributes a more serious gift: it was she who was the first to have a presentiment of Thérèse's vocation.“She’s my little girl,” she said, presenting her to two nuns. “She will be a religious.”

In fact, in 1955, after years of teaching in Brittany, then in Paris and already in Africa, Thérèse knocked on the door of the Novitiate of the Marist Sisters in Massabielle.

Having been named Sister François-Marie, she made profession on April 26, 1958.

Institutrice de 1959 à 1991

From 1959 to 1963: in Toulon
From 1963 to 1965: at the College of Hann in Dakar
From 1965 to 1967: in Saint Etienne
From 1967 to 1969: again in Toulon
From 1969 to 1978: again in Hann where she was Primary Director
From 1978 to 1984: in Louga, from where she also went to discover rural life which had always attracted her.

Discovery and love of the Rural Life

“We visited around ten villages each month for nutritional monitoring of the children. Those weigh-in days were a celebration. In one of these villages where I often got stuck in the sand I arrived one day saying "I am going to write to the president to ask for a road." In the afternoon, the person in charge came to the mission to tell me: "You are writing to the president". The following month we found ourselves in front of a magnificent avenue of red sand, but unfortunately the sand was too fine; the participants of the Paris-Dakar rally might have spun on this pretty track but our 2CV was having such a hard time moving forward that we thought we would never reach the village! …. "

“My last tour in the villages was heart-breaking: I loved this rural world so much. These people have nothing, they are satisfied with so little to survive and they are happy!”

From 1984 to 1991: again in Toulon she became Primary Director. This is where her teaching career ended. But her retirement was to be an active one!

Multiple services

From 1991 to 1995: at Saint-Prix François-Marie provided many services inside the reception house of Massabielle and at Saint Joseph in the house of the elderly Sisters. But her love of nature was fulfilled: the park and garden offered her the opportunity to plant and harvest flowers, especially for the chapel.

From 1995 to 2019: François-Marie was here at Bon Repos

Here again she was responsible for the care and decoration of the chapel. Here again the garden was her privileged domain. We saw her tending the beds and picking her flowers or picking apples to make the famous compotes during the television news in the community room. She also participated in the animation of the retirement home.

The sisters present here attest to her human qualities, her attention to people, her sense of hospitality, her ever-present smile. Never a complaint or criticism. She knew how to thank. It was a joy to work with her, to weed and clear the flowerbeds.

A courageous woman and a woman of prayer, François-Marie was keen to proclaim the Gospel, in season and out. She lived Marist values in all simplicity. Just like Mary.

In 2019, her condition having deteriorated, François-Marie entered the nursing home at Bon Repos. Unfortunately, the pandemic having made communication with the community difficult, she was to be isolated for a long time.

However, when the end drew near the Sisters had the opportunity to accompany her until her last moment.

Today, may the Virgin Mary welcome Sister François-Marie, who has known how to resemble her throughout her life.

Bon Repos on March 9, 2021

Sister Marie-Thérèse Terra

Deceased Sisters

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