Scottye Eakin: Deauville 1997 and Beyond

Scottye Eakin was a French teaching in Fayette County for 35 years.  She has been a member of the Lexington-Deauville Sister Cities Committee almost since it's started.  Her daughter, Libby, participated in the high school student exchange in 1997.  

Deauville 1997 and Beyond

Hi—I taught French for 35 years - having retired eight years ago, so I’ve been acquainted with the Lexington-Deauville Sister Cities Exchange almost since it started.  As I teacher, I recommended many students to participate in the program, and, of course, supported our daughter when she, too, wanted to participate in the exchange.  Libby went through the interviews and orientations with no problem. When she received her first letter from Stephanie Maillard, I knew that we were in for a special, life-changing event, because a mechanical butterfly fluttered from the package.  

Being a teacher, I incorporated my summer vacation with the arrival of Libby and her correspondent, so I planned a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks for the girls and me.  Since Stephanie had arrived with a shopping list, we searched Lexington for Levi’s 501 jeans (the ones with the button front), but to no avail.  She was disappointed, of course, but we had our trip to do.  As you can see from the pictures, the girls had a blast canoeing, riding horses, hiking, playing in the steam from the geysers and generally having a great time.  We had to make a quick stop at the Penney’s in Butte, Montana for a pair of socks, or something inconsequential, when, Voilà!  We hit the mother lode of jeans.  I think that she bought 15 pairs to take home to her family and friends.  We had to give her an additional suitcase to handle all of the loot.

Stephanie returned the next summer to go on college visits with us, then again as a young adult when the French came on their annual visit to Lexington.

My husband and I, on the other hand, continued to correspond with Stephanie, and particularly with her parents, so for our 30^th wedding anniversary in 2002, the Maillard’s invited us to stay with them while we toured the Normandy region. They entertained us royally with seafood galore.  We enjoyed meeting the family that we felt that we already knew, and got to meet some of the extended family, too.  We visited the landing beaches and the cemetery at Arromanches, and got to experience the joys of a nation-wide air traffic controllers’ strike the very day that we were to fly to London.

Several years later, Stephanie announced that she was getting married.  Being recently retired, and everyone else in the family being involved in school and university activities, it was I who was thrown in the briar patch to make a short trip to France to learn about Brittany, then to attend the most fantastic wedding imaginable.  The pealing of the church bells caused me to break out in goose bumps; the whole village was invited to a reception shortly after the ceremony; we danced until dawn—something that I hadn’t done since my college days.  I was honored to be introduced to the wedding party as Stephanie’s “maman américaine.”  It was indeed a special event.

We’ve continued our holiday, birthday and anniversary communications, and I was excited in 2015 to be able to visit with the family again, although they have moved from near Deauville to Bordeaux.

Both Stephanie and Libby are now young mothers, and we grandmothers enjoy sharing pictures and stories about the toddlers, mainly through Facebook, and an occasional card or letter.  They know that they always have a home here, as well as our being welcomed there, whenever we get the occasion to travel.