Her eyes clouded with tears, Colette (84 years old) points to a photo where she poses with Maïté, who died in the night from Friday to Saturday at the age of 86, who wears her legendary smile. “We met here as teenagers, and we never left each other’s side,” says the old lady. I even worked with her at her restaurant near the train tracks. The deaths of her husband and son affected her deeply, and the illness didn’t help matters. But despite everything, I want to keep in my head his bursts of laughter when we told each other our little stories. She was incredible. I have never seen a woman with so much zest for life. »
A feeling shared on Friday by the inhabitants of Maïté’s native village, Rion-des-Landes (Landes), about forty kilometers west of Mont-de-Marsan. Like Christelle, who combed the cook’s hair in her living room for a long time before her condition worsened.