ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE
Much about the life of Charles de Gaulle is well known. What is not so widely known is that Charles and Evonne de Gaulle were the parents of a Down Syndrome child. She was a treasure to them; she was a concern for them. Regardless of what was occurring in the affairs of state, Charles arranged his life so that he and Evonne would have some time almost every day with their infant daughter. When they would put her to bed, and the child had fallen asleep, Evonne would often ask, “Oh Charles, why couldn’t she have been like the others?” As had been predicted by the physicians, the de Gaulle’s daughter died in her youth. There was a private, graveside Mass, and when the priest had pronounced the benediction, all present began to leave the grave — except for Evonne. In her grief, she could not pull herself away. Charles went back to her, gently touched her…
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