Betty Mills: Lexington-Deauville Sister Cities Committee Chairman

Betty Mills - Lexington-Deauville Sister Cities Committee Chairman

After 44 years of involvement with Deauville, I have almost a whole lifetime of wonderful experiences to reflect on.  It has actually been the most important work of my life.

I first heard about Deauville, our "twin city" from my high school French teacher in 1958 who was going to take a group of students there in the summer. I signed up to go on the trip, but a family event prohibited me from doing it.  Years later--1973--after beginning my teaching career at Georgetown College, I began to think about doing something for our local high school students.  I had already myself been an intern in a Paris bank, work exchange program, and a student at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, for a year.  I realized the profound difference of an in-depth experience for really learning a language.

I spoke to our Mayor Foster Pettit, who was a friend, about a possible reciprocal exchange.  He was very  enthused.  He wrote to the French Mayor Michel d'Ornano who was equally enthused and who put me in contact with the person in Deauville who might want work with me on this.  As fate would have it, a flyer arrived in Mayor Pettit's office about a "Sister Cities" convention in Atlanta.  He sent me to it to learn everything I could; at his request I formed a committee of French teachers, citizens in business and the horse industry.  We discussed many issues, talked to the Superintendent of Fayette Co. Schools, and to high school principals about sending a student during part of the school year.

The "person" in Deauville was the extraordinary Jacques Valentin, probably the most erudite, energetic, and enthusiastic person I have ever known.  Without his involvement, we would not be where we are today with Sister Cities.    Ann Hatfield from Henry Clay High School was the first student to go; she spent 5 months in Deauville in 1975.  We have now sent over 300 high school students from Lexington, and received over 300 French students!  C'EST MERVEILLEUX, N'EST-CE PAS?

One of the things of which I am the most proud is obtaining scholarships for 2 Deauville students in perpetuity at the University of Kentucky starting in 1976.  It happened by a stroke of great luck:  I was able, with Jacques Valentin's help, to assist Gov. Julian Carroll with his trip to France, and in meeting with Mayor d'Ornano, who was Minister of Industry; and Baron Guy de Rothschild, president of the Thoroughbred Breeders at the time. After his trip, he asked me if "ever I needed anything for this [Lexington-Deauville] committee" to let him know.  I let him know pretty quickly....

By 1977 Jacques Valentin had established scholarships for University of Kentucky students at the University of Caen in Normandy, which the Deauville Twinning Committee provides.  In addition, Mayor Anne d'Ornano created teaching assistantships positions for 2 Lexington young adults to teach English in the elementary schools in Deauville, a pilot program for France. Without her gracious help and vision, we would not have progressed very far. A wonderful lady!

We have had many outstanding UK or Transylvania University students benefit from these life-changing experiences, and the same is true for the French students who have come to UK.

Many of our French scholarship holders that come to UK from Deauville credit their year here as a vital stepping-stone in their current careers.

Two recent students come to mind:

1) ALICE QUINONES, 2009-2010

Alice was a participant in the UK scholarship program as well as the Lexington internship program where she interned at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Law Department.  Since these experiences, she has returned to Lexington many times to visit. She attended law school in Paris for 2 years, and spent her 3rd year at Washington University in St. Louis where she graduated in 2015.  She passed the New York state bar in 2015, and then the French bar in 2017, and now works in a British firm, the 3rd largest in the world, in Paris.

2) LENA TOUCHARD, 2013-2014

Lena managed to participate in everything at UK.   With an enormous amount of hard work with the coach, she was able to join the UK debate team.  She traveled with the team and was able to give speeches and debate; the first foreign student at UK to do so, I was told. She then spent 2 years in Leicester, England, in law school debating there as well.  She now is in her 3rd year of law in Strasbourg.  She credits her year at UK and the debate team as another case of a vital stepping stone for her future career.

With Lena (left) and her sister Violette. 

Both  of these young women are my "adopted" daughters and my dear friends whom I will see in Paris and Deauville next week.  They both love America and Kentucky.

And now the Deauville Twinning committee in France has been in the very capable hands of my beloved "adopted" son, Philippe Behuet, since 1996.  I was able to obtain an internship here for him in a bank in 1991-92.

My adopted son, Philippe (left).  

He has returned often to Lexington where he has many friends.  As the volunteer chairman, he has many duties which he performs with enthusiasm.  I will have the great joy of being with him next week in Deauville...