GOODBYE CHARLEY

On the 4^th February 2022 I stumbled across the picture of an old friend, Charles Nabet, I knew in school between ages 12-14. I had not seen him in 66 years, but we became very close in school. I posted a blog about the occurrance on the 5th Feb 2022. At that age,  time moves exceeding slow, and I have very precious memories of our time at the Lycée in Montgeron in the mid-fifties. Charley and I have now started exchanging emails and we hoped to meet up in Espoey, in the Pyrenees, not far from Pau, where he now lives with his wife Ariane. He has a married daughter Claire Cooper, who teaches English and German at a University in the Vendée, an English son-in-law Stephen Cooper, and a son Frédéric who is a Vet living in Gap, in the Hautes Alpes. Dr Nabet works at the CLINIQUE VETERINAIRE DES ECRINS. 

 

Celia and I had plotted to do a mini Tour de France and visit with the Nabets on the 31^st May. Sadly I received and email last night from his daughter Claire, informing me that Charley had died on the 12^th May from a cancer he’d had for a month. The funeral/cremation will be on the 19^th May in Pau. It is not possible for us to attend at that time. 

 

Having reconnected after all these years and so looking forward to meeting up again, it is a bitter blow. There is so much I wanted to know. He never even hinted that he was ill in our email exchanges. Thirteen weeks is all there was. I am upset and feeling rather fragile. It's just not fair.