Word: colombey
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Monsieur le Gorille. Malraux visited the retired President and his wife Yvonne for a little more than six hours at their home in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises on Dec. 11, 1969. He did not record the conversation or take notes, but later felt compelled to reconstruct their conversation. Writes Malraux in his preface: "With surprise I found out that we know of no dialogue between a great historical figure and a great artist-painter, writer, musician. We have no better knowledge of Julius II's dialogues with Michelangelo than of their loud quarreling. Nor of those between Alexander...
...last effect to be one of grandeur in sheer understatement. De Gaulle insisted on an "extremely simple" funeral, "without the slightest public ceremony." The gravestone, he directed, should read only CHARLES DE GAULLE, 1890-____. He was to be buried in the churchyard of Notre Dame de Colombey, next to his daughter Anne, who was born retarded and died in 1948 at the age of 20. He had always had a deep and very special love for his handicapped daughter. "He walked with her hand-in-hand around the property," recalls one Colombey resident, "caressing her and talking quietly about...
Simplicity at Colombey...
...Colombey, De Gaulle's request for an "extremely simple" service was followed to the letter. Carpenter Louis Merger, 59, said that Madame de Gaulle "asked for the same kind of casket I make for everybody else. When I asked if she didn't want something military, she said 'Non.' " Pointing to the extra-length (6 ft. 11 in.) oak coffin, lined with white quilt and trimmed with an aluminum cross, Merger added: "He was right. Who would need anything more?" Total cost: $72, or $9 more than usual, because of the size...
...around Colombey were thousands of cars, parked along roads and in fields. Nine special trains brought other mourners. All together, some 40,000 men and womenmany of them carrying blankets and picnic basketsconverged on the small square outside Notre Dame de Colombey. The crowd was packed so tightly that those who fainted had to be passed overhead toward first-aid stations...