Home Community Deaths Services July 16 for Famed Hat Maker Pauline Greaux

Services July 16 for Famed Hat Maker Pauline Greaux

0

July 15, 2004 – As a teen-ager about 80 or so years ago, Pauline Ann Greaux helped carry loads of sand, gravel and water up the little hill in Frenchtown to the construction workers who were building St. Anne's Chapel.
On Friday a final farewell will be said to Greaux in the same church she loved and attended all her life until failing health prevented her from climbing the hill.
Greaux died Monday, July 12, at Roy L. Schneider Hospital. She was 95.
Her family moved to St. Thomas from St. Barths when she was 8 years old so her father could seek better work opportunities. She later married John Joseph Greaux and had 11 children, three of whom died as young children. Her husband died young, also, and she was left with eight children to raise. She did this with spirit and imagination.
Her hands were her treasure. She began repairing clothes, then learned dressmaking, tailoring and hammock making. However, she was perhaps best known for her hats. They were legend. She platted straw for baskets and bags, as well, but the hats stood out. She would decorate them with colorful cloth bands, making each one different. Everybody wanted one of Pauline's hats for Carnival.
Greaux for generations was a familiar sight in the village. As she grew older, almost every day about noontime she could be seen walking up the road from her little house on Honduras to the Frenchtown Community Center. She was active in the senior citizen program under the guidance of Gladys Lake, the center's late director, and was one of three members honored by the Legislature for their spirit of cooperation in the group.
One of her happiest memories was of the day she became an American citizen.
Greaux's hands were never still. When a visitor dropped by, she would extend greetings, bring out something to eat or drink, and get right back to her weaving — usually the hats. Although arthritis kept her from her weaving and from tending her plants in her later years, her spirits didn't flag.
She is survived by her daughters, Lillian Danet, Marie Blanchard and Cecilia Greaux; and her sons Francisco, Augustin and John Marcel Greaux. Two adult sons, John Isidore and Paul, preceded her in death. She also is survived by her adopted son and daughter, Theodore and Geraldine Bernier; daughters-in-law Emma and Anna Greaux; sons-in-law Theodore "Magic" Danet Jr., George Blanchard and Thomas Greaux; close friends Josephine Richardson and Juliana Greaux; 18 grandchildren; and many other relatives and friends.
Viewing is at 9 a.m. Friday at St. Anne's Chapel. A service will follow there at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Western Cemetery. Arrangements are by Davis Funeral Home.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here