Les Grands-Chézeaux (France) (AFP)
At 100, the oldest elected official in France, a municipal councilor in Grands-Chézeaux, in Haute-Vienne, where he has been sitting for almost 75 years, has just decided not to stand for re-election in March.
Very young centenary (since October 20), Louis Dauny "will leave his post after 74 years and 11 months in the service of the town", confirmed this weekend to AFP his son Jean-Charles, also assistant to the Grands -Chézeaux.
"It's our compass," says deputy mayor André Hérault. "A figure, the memory of the town," supports the town hall secretary Karine Fillaud. In Grands-Chézeaux, a village of 246 inhabitants in the north of Haute-Vienne, there will be a "before" and a "after" municipal 2020.
Elected for the first time in April 1945, the year when women had the right to vote, Louis Dauny had 13 successive terms. The same year, in 1945, he married, had his first child and resumed family wool spinning, which will be, in 1989, the last in the department to close its doors.
"I was busy. I never got bored," said the man who often wears a wool sweater from this spinning mill. "In life, you have to know how to be reasonable in everything. For me, as for voters, it would not be reasonable to represent yourself. Make way for young people!"
"This is a big loss for the town. He knows the history of the town, of the inhabitants by heart. Physically, he is advancing a little slower than before. But in his mind, things are going fast," said the secretary. town hall.
Louis Dauny went regularly to the inhabitant, especially to isolated people "to listen to the citizens", because "it is often from there that good ideas start," he said.
Last December, he was still distributing the Ephad parcels to the "elders", younger than him. For municipal councilor Sylvie Bennab, the man is "an example of dedication always listening to the people. It was his great strength".
Assistant André Hérault says he was won over by "his vision for the future. This struck me. Where young people were sometimes a little warm, he was always ready to get carried away with new projects. ".
The arrival of drinking water in the village, the municipal stadium inaugurated by the former selector of the French team Michel Hidalgo, or the installation of a garage which he had guaranteed and which employs 25 people today: Louis Dauny left his mark on Grands-Chézeaux with his faith in these projects and his kindness.
"A page in municipal history is turning. We are a bit confused," concludes Hérault. Especially since the mayor Jacques Dufourd, 72, also decided to put the tricolor scarf in the closet too.
© 2020 AFP