View source for Lucette Michaux-Chevry

{{Short description|French politician (1929–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Lucette Michaux-Chevry
| image              = Lucette Michaux-Chevry 1993 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = 
| othername          = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = 5 March 1929
| birth_place        = [[Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=y|2021|9|9|1929|3|5}}
| death_place        = Gourbeyre, Guadeloupe
| burial_place       = 
| nationality        = French
| alma_mater         = [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]
| occupation         = Politician
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = 
| spouse             = Henri Michaux
| children           = [[Marie-Luce Penchard]]
}}
'''Lucette Michaux-Chevry''' (5 March 1929 – 9 September 2021)<ref name=":0">[https://www.france24.com/fr/france/20210910-lucette-michaux-chevry-ancienne-ministre-de-jacques-chirac-est-décédée Lucette Michaux-Chevry, ancienne ministre de Jacques Chirac, est décédée] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> was a French politician, who served as [[President of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe|President of the Regional Council]] of the overseas department of [[Guadeloupe]]<ref name=":1">{{cite news|title=Marie-Luce Penchard, la fille de Lucette Michaux-Chevry à l'Outre-mer|url=http://www.latribune.fr/depeches/associated-press/marie-luce-penchard-la-fille-de-lucette-michaux-chevry-a-l-outre-mer.html|accessdate=5 February 2011|newspaper=[[La Tribune]]|date=23 June 2009|agency=[[Associated Press]]|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120803202023/http://www.latribune.fr/depeches/associated-press/marie-luce-penchard-la-fille-de-lucette-michaux-chevry-a-l-outre-mer.html|archivedate=3 August 2012}}</ref> between 1992 and 2004.<ref>[http://www.senat.fr/senateur/michaux_chevry_lucette95050f.html Official page on the French senate website]</ref> She was nicknamed the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean." because she was "for a long time the strong woman of the department."<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title="La dame de fer de la Guadeloupe" Lucette Michaux-Chevry est décédée à l’âge de 92 ans|url=https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/la-dame-de-fer-de-la-caraibe-lucette-michaux-chevry-est-decedee-a-l-age-de-92-ans-1100236.html|access-date=2021-11-21|website=Outre-mer la 1ère|language=fr-FR}}</ref>

== Life and work ==
Michaux-Chevry was born in 1929 in [[Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe]],<ref name=":3" /> as the fourth of ten children, and completed her [[law]] studies at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] University in Paris.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=2021-09-10|title=Lucette Michaux-Chevry, ancienne ministre de Jacques Chirac, est morte|language=fr|work=Le Monde.fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2021/09/10/lucette-michaux-chevry-ancienne-ministre-sous-jacques-chirac-est-morte_6094094_823448.html|access-date=2021-11-21}}</ref>

She was the first Guadeloupean woman to enter government service when she won her first election in 1959 becoming a municipal councilor for her town of Saint-Claude. She won just eight days after the birth of her son.<ref name=":0" />

=== Political achievements ===
An ardent member of the Socialist Party, Michaux-Chevry supported French presidential candidate [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] in 1981.<ref name=":3" /> She was elected to the post of Regional President in 1992 for the first time, then reelected in January 1993, and in 1995. She was elected [[Mayor (France)|Mayor]] of [[Basse-Terre]], Guadeloupe. She was elected to the [[French senate]] 1995, and also in 1995, French president [[Jacques Chirac]] named her an advisor.<ref name=":3" />

According to her obituary in Le Monde,<blockquote>She did not abandon her native Guadeloupe, where she multiplied the mandates almost until the end of her life: she was in total three times mayor (Gourbeyre, then Basse-Terre), twice senator (from 1995 to 2011), twice deputy (from 1986 to 1993) and twice president of the region (from 1992 to 2004). In January 2019, she resigned from the presidency of the agglomeration community Grand Sud Caraïbe and announced, at nearly 90 years old, to put an end to her political career, causing an earthquake locally.<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>However, Michaux-Chevry did not leave politics totally. After she resigned her presidency post in 2019, she retained another position as deputy to the mayor of Basse-Terre. At the time, the mayor was her daughter [[Marie-Luce Penchard]],<ref name=":2" />

=== Personal life ===
Lucette was married at a young age to printer Henri Michaux but became a widow when her two children were still young.<ref name=":2" />

Her daughter, Marie-Luce Penchard, became a minister under the [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] presidency, and like her mother, she has pursued a career in local and national politics.<ref name=":3" />

=== Death and tributes ===
Michaux-Chevry died on 9 September 2021at her home in [[Gourbeyre]], Guadeloupe from throat cancer, at the age of 92.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaux-Chevry, Lucette}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe]]
[[Category:French senators of the Fifth Republic]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Politicians of the French Fifth Republic]]
[[Category:Women members of the Senate (France)]]
[[Category:20th-century French women politicians]]
[[Category:Black French politicians]]
[[Category:Women government ministers of France]]
[[Category:Senators of Guadeloupe]]
[[Category:People from Basse-Terre]]