A whole neighborhood is in mourning. At the corner of boulevard Eugène Pierre and rue de Terrusse, in the heart of this 5th arrondissement at half mast since the night of Saturday to Sunday, many of them pass in front of L’Artisan du Charolais. It was in this butcher shop that Jacky Morand worked for nearly twenty years. At the end of the day on Wednesday, the public prosecutor of Marseille confirmed that the octogenarian and his companion Anna were indeed among the eight victims found in the rubble of the rue de Tivoli. And both, precisely, were real figures of the Camas district.
“We always say it when someone disappears, but really it was a nice gentleman and an adorable couple”, confides Marie-Christine, employee of the butchery. Aged 81, Jacky has spent two decades behind the trade counter. Retired for nearly twenty years, this octogenarian has not been forgotten by his neighborhood. “Each time he passed the butcher’s, if he did not come in to take a piece of meat, he said hello to us or sent us a kiss through the window”, testifies the interested party again.
A “figure of the district”
Upset by the disappearance of the couple, Marie-Christine struggles to hold back her tears in her store. The butcher has long hoped that Jacky and Anna are not among the victims: “They told me that they were going to spend the Easter holidays with their grandchildren. Until the end, I thought that they were not in their building at the time of the tragedy”.
In the La Paline d’Or bakery, located a stone’s throw from the butcher’s shop, Michael, with his Marseille accent in his body, has just heard the news. ” But no ? But Jacky is a neighborhood figure! “, laments the young man. And to add with emotion: “This gentleman was a mocker, a laugher what! “.
He remembers the times when the octogenarian strolled on the boulevard Eugène Pierre, often on the arm of his wife. “They were always two laughing and greeting the merchants in the neighborhood, he recalls. This story is a tragedy”.
“He spoke loudly, he was always in a good mood”
For Marie-Nicole, a customer at the butcher’s, Jacky was first “her shopkeeper” on the corner of rue Terrusse and then her neighbour. “This gentleman was the elder of the neighborhood, she assures. He spoke loudly, he was always in a good mood, he was a good man”.
At the table of the PMU which faces the trade, four pensioners redo the history of these last three days around a coffee. Not everyone knew the name of this “laughing butcher”. But everyone remembers it strongly. “He was part of the landscape, everyone in the neighborhood knew this guy,” they say in unison.
It’s hard to imagine that in the second largest city in France, the ties are so strong, the memories too. This is how we understand that Camas is a neighborhood deeply rooted in the people of Marseille.
Marie Nicole, a local, has resided on the block for over forty years. She was not close to Jacky but had a lot of affection for her. Over the years, the man had become a real familiar figure. “Jacky was the real Marseillais,” she concludes with emotion.