Mrs Jacqueline Y DeTilleux Steurer

A hundred years ago when the Great War began Gaston DeTilluex was apprenticing for his career in the restaurant business In Belgium. Marcelle Dieumar was working as a Governess for the children of Monsieur le Juge de Cassation De Gallardo (a Supreme Court Judge) in Paris. After Belgium was invaded Gaston joined the French 8th Regiment de Ligne eventually becoming Sergent. At the time families would sometimes "adopt" a soldier so he would have somewhere to visit during leave and the family Marcelle was living with had "adopted" Gaston. One day he came for a visit, she opened the door and it was love at first sight. These were both intelligent, educated, capable people and one can clearly see why they were very suited to each other. After the war ended they were married in L'église de la Madeleine in Paris (with the Supreme Court Judge in attendance) and moved to Brussels so Gaston could start his career as a Maître d'hôtel.

Their first child, Pierre, died at three months. Gaston had thought that having a doctor help in the birth would give Marcelle the best experience. However, after Pierre's death, they returned to the general practice at the time of using midwives. So, Denise was born March 5th, 1921 at home. And Jackie was born - also at home - in Brussels, Belgium on November 29, 1922. They had a beautiful and happy childhood.

Jackie and Denise attended L'école de Sainte Marie. It was a Catholic school which probably no longer exists possibly destroyed by the Nazi invasion. According to Denise, the favorite teacher was Soeur Désireé. I've heard about how wonderful this school was and that the teaching techniques were way ahead of their time. In fact, Denise claims that many of those techniques she continued to use in her own career as a teacher.

When it was obvious that prohibition was going to be overturned in America, Gaston - as a representative of Chateau Lafite - decided to travel to New York City and see about the possibilities for selling wine to America. Gaston was well suited for his career being a very friendly people-loving kind of person. He easily learned languages and he was fascinated by different cultures. Jackie inherited much of this easy sociability. All her life she was known as a person who loved to mingle and was considered very friendly. Being a "pixie" with her adorable curls bouncing down the street and a very cute face she made friends quickly.

Gaston loved New York from his very first trip and encouraged his family to move. Since Marcelle's younger sister, Margo, was living in Ozone Park, Queen at the time with her husband, Bill, my grandmother decided it was worth a try. (The alternative was Egypt because some family also lived there.) They traveled by boat to NY and lived in Margo and Bill's house for a short while. My grandmother didn't care for NY, missed Belgium so she and the girls ended up traveling back and forth from Belgium to NY about three times.

Eventually, they ended up living on 2460 Davidson Ave in The Bronx. The girls attended PS 33.

It was a struggle to adapt to a new country, learn a new language and figure out one's place in this city. Gaston, with his natural charm and brilliant intellect, was able to survive. And he knew English, of course. However, the Stock market crashed in America. The family endured the Depression with their usual courage. Somehow always finding healthy food to eat. Knowing my grandmother I'm sure she denied herself so her children had what they needed.

Gaston worked at a variety of restaurants over the years including, Le Pavillon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pavillon), Beaux-Arts, Cafe Chambord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_Chambord), Le Coq Rouge, Le Bruxelles.

Eventually, both girls would attend Hunter High School and then Hunter College. At the time this was THE school for the brightest students. Some of the classmates they made in Hunter would become lifelong friends including Hannah Herz who they would socialize with several times a week until her passing on September 28, 2010.

While my mother played in the orchestra (cello) during Gilbert and Sullivan performances Jackie and Hannah would often man the box office. Although they sometimes were also in the chorus.

After Jackie graduated from Hunter on February 2, 1946, she had a summer job as an assistant at a store called "Ma-and-Pa-Jamas" and later worked in an office which booked classical musicians.

About a year after graduating from Hunter Jackie started teaching second graders. The Board of Education assigned her to teach at PS 168 starting September 9, 1949. During the summer vacations, she would travel to Europe to visit family. Jackie enjoyed her year's teaching and liked her colleagues in this school.

Jackie loved children and I recall her teaching me the alphabet (using 'flash cards'), numbers and how to read. She must have done a good job because when I was in Grammar school I was a bit bored with topics I already knew.

Denise had won free dance lessons from Arthur Murray Dance school and found she enjoyed them. She encouraged Jackie to come along. Ralph J Steurer was her dance teacher and he was quite good. They got to know each other and fell in love. That winter I recall "Stu" (as he was known) coming to the house while we all were at the second floor window watching him step out the words "I Love You" in the snow. Needless to say, Jackie found that very romantic. They were married on April 19, 1960. Jackie gave birth to Yvonne on December 27, 1961.

Gaston DeTilleux (1898 - 1965), died at age 66 years - way too young for such a wonderful person.

Stu worked at JFK airport for TWA airlines as Chief of Cargo Services. This allowed the couple to travel - including to Hawaii. Stu would often play golf and Jackie joked about being a 'golf window'. But I remember her socializing with friends, having a happy life and traveling regularly.

The Feb. 24, 1969 issue of the internal airline newsletter "TWA Skyliner" reported that Stu had suffered an accident on Jan. 22, 1969. This was before vehicles had default backup "beeps" and the fellow driving the fork-lift had backed up and run over Stu, crushing his hip.

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Stu required many operations and blood transfusions. Jackie spent most of that year traveling to the hospital (via public transportation) every day. I honestly don't know how she did it. There's no question she was a loyal and loving wife.

The Dec 15, 1969 issue of "TWA Skyliner" reported that Stu had celebrated his 25th anniversary (with TWA) on Nov. 14 by having a party in his hospital room. They published a photo with a crowd of people around his bed which included Jackie, of course. Stu was released from the hospital on Nov. 25th.

http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/twa/id/5918/rec/1

He continued to have many more operations - dozens. Stu had to wear bags and Jackie methodically dealt with all his medical issues personally. I really don't know how she found the strength. Unfortunately, after a number of years, TWA decided they weren't going to pay Stu his pension and after that Stu just lost heart. He had remained very loyal to the company but this was a blow he couldn't recover from. He passed away on February 01, 1978.

With her sister's help, Jackie continued to care for her mother and daughter as best she could. Marcelle DeTilleux (1896 - 1983), died at age 86 years. She passed away at home and Jackie was right there holding her hand.

Unfortunately, this was not the last tragedy Jackie had to endure. Yvonne had cancer the last two years of her life and then suddenly died October 21, 1997, at the much too young age of 35.

No matter what adversity life had handed her, Jackie tried to remain positive. She was brought up by people who survived a horrible war, separation from family and the Depression. Gaston was not merely anti-war but was Pro-peace and lived every day with joy and a sprinkling of magic. Is it any surprise Jackie handled life's difficulties with such courage?

As Winter transitioned into Spring Jackie would notice the trees beginning to bud. She would get very excited at the shapes of clouds and the blue sky. While Denise much preferred classical music, Jackie also enjoyed more modern music. She really enjoyed drummers and all you had to say was "Gene Krupa" and she would wax poetic about him. She was probably the biggest fan (and certainly the oldest) of my brother's Rock and Roll band.

Like most people in my family, she was multilingual. She and Denise would talk in German so my brother and I wouldn't know what they were saying. Jackie was also the only person I ever met who knew 'Pig Latin'. Jackie laughed easily and I found that if I needed to distract her from some unpleasantness that all I had to do was make a joke. During the last two months, she spent in rehab people would tell me how much they enjoyed her company. How wonderful that she brought light into the lives of people despite being unwell herself. And she was like this right to the end. On the day she was in the Intensive Care Unit they had one of her fingers attached to a machine that would send out an alarm if the device was moved. She was on oxygen so she couldn't really talk, however as soon as she found out she could start the alarm going she wiggled her finger.

She lived a full interesting life with many ups and downs. And I'm glad I was enriched by knowing my Aunt and godmother.