Jean Le Delezir died this morning in the Market Square in the heart of the village to which he was so attached.
Let us here pay our respects to the man who gave so much energy and passion to the discovery, the knowledge of and to the preservation of the architectural and cultural heritage of the town. Let us pay our respects to the man who wanted, against all the odds, to transmit his knowledge to children as much as adults. Aware of the broad strokes of history as much as the small ones, those that put flesh and blood on to facts, he knew how to tell us of the actions, the occupations and the people who made Courseulles.

Author in 1992 of “Courseulles sur Mer” a tremendous book dedicated to the history of our village, he was for many years the president of the association “Preservation and Appreciation of Old Courseulles”. With this association and the town he oversaw the creation of Courseulles’ museum and made available his personal collection from 1990 to 2002. With the least amount of fuss, he received the bronze medal for tourism in 1993.
With the help of his wife Genevieve, he enlivened our summers: drawing competitions, jam competitions, spot the odd man out in shop windows, visits to old Courseulles, chats around the fireside, exhibitions in Courseulles’ museum and then at his house. He allowed us to discover large sections of our past. Sea going captains and sailors, lace which was famous even as far as the Tsar’s court (in the Lace House) to name but the most recent exhibitions changed our outlook on our town. Their door was always open to the inquisitive. With this belief that the preservation of our cultural and architectural heritage should be written into the heart of the development of Courseulles