It is past eleven o’clock when the convoy arrives in front of the gates of square 22 of the Vaudrans cemetery in the 12e district of Marseilles. The hubbub that had reigned for long minutes already gives way to a heavy silence.
Under a blazing sun and a blue sky that he knew how to appreciate at its fair value, a large family came this Friday to say a last farewell to Michel Montana, the former president of the Mondial La Marseillaise à pétanque, who died at the age of 91, on the night of February 14.
Nearly 200 people who still have the images of the documentary in their heads, ” Michel Montana, a story of Marseille » produced in 2017, and broadcast the day before on France 3.
« Since 72 hours, I realized that many anonymous people knew and spoke of my father. I also found myself with lots of brothers and sisters. I’m glad you’re here. Glad to see the family is so big observes Vincent Montana, his only son, when launching the small ceremony paying homage to him. at his side, his mother Marie who accompanied for nearly sixty years, the life of Michel Montana, born Albert Tordjmann in 1931 in Oran.
“He was Marseilles”
« He was Marseilles “, a man “ magnetic, magical that has illuminated our lives insists Jean-Marc Coppola, communist deputy to the mayor of Marseille, in charge of culture, also invited to speak, “ very proud » to have counted him among his friends, « as an elected communist, as a defender of La Marseillaise ».
« He was an ecumenical man, by turns serious, amusing, questioning, facetious, an extraordinary personality he continues. “ He knew poverty, discrimination, wearing the star… he could have been embittered, bitter, but he was quite the opposite. He radiated with an infectious joy, a mischievous smile, unique facial expressions. »
A man and it is one of his strongest qualities who knew how to make society. ” His pleasure did not lie in appearance but in the fact of sharing a piece of life with those he called his fellow travelers. “, pleads Vincent Montana. These women and men, from high society, from show biz, from the economic world that this son of a salt picker has encountered throughout his life. A life inseparable from The Marseillaise and a career started as a simple courier for the newspaper, which brought him a few decades later to the management of the daily’s department. And his son to remember, this statue offered by the sculptor César that he will forget on a plane, or this poem that Aragon scribbled for him one day at the World Cup on a corner of a tablecloth where he remained forever…
« We thought you were eternal continues Marie-Laure Augry. “ You were a bashful talker, you rarely talked about yourself “Insists this faithful who discovered this Marseillaise” which he carried on his shoulders at the turn of the 80s with Yves Mourousi. She was part of his family just as he had become part of the Ricard family. “ I can imagine you, up there, with Paul, Patrick, Yves or Henri Salvador, calling you to play a game of boules “, concludes François-Xavier Diaz, grandson of Paul Ricard.
“It simply came to our notice then
poverty, wearing the star…
it could have been sour, bitter. ⁇
He was everything
opposite. »