It’s a few days after Odile De Lyrot has received one of her native France’s high honors; she is at Magens Bay, but she accepts a call.

"It left me totally speechless," she says of the honor, not a typical state of mind for the Virgin Islands honorary French consul. Speech, French, English or whatever comes as naturally to her as pouring (French) wine from a bottle.

She has been designated a knight in the National Order of Merit, which rewards meritorious service to society and is the second-highest civilian award accorded by France.

The announcement came Thursday evening at her last gathering of Friends of French Culture, a weekly group she started a decade ago with virtually nothing but a desire to bring the local French community together.

The gathering Thursday was bittersweet, with about 60 or so of the group come to bid adieu to the tiny consul, who hides the ambitions of someone twice her size behind the facade of a demure French woman.

De Lyrot is leaving the island where she has spent the last 27 years.

With a wide smile that did little to hide her tears, she told the guests she is moving to New York next month. There she will she will complete a six-month course in gemology, After that, she says, "Who knows? Maybe back to Paris…."

But wherever she goes, she will surely be back from time to time.

"St. Thomas will always have a huge place in my heart," she says.

De Lyrot moved here in 1985 with her husband, Louie de Lyrot, so he could take over administrative duties at Cardow Jewelers. Meantime, Odile raised their two children before joining her husband in management at Cardow. In 2002, de Lyrot was approached by Philippe Chatignoux, Miami-based general consul of France.

"He told me Aimery Caron was retiring and wanted to know if I would consider becoming the new honorary French consul," she says. "I was astonished. I told him no – I have a family and a job, but I capitulated in a month or so."

The island’s French community hasn’t been the same since. De Lyrot approaches life with the drive of a platoon sergeant, though with considerably more charm.

In her first year as consul, de Lyrot says she became acutely aware of a need in the French community for a place to come together for more than the annual Bastille Day ceremonies.

With typical gumption, De Lyrot approached Henry Richardson, proprietor of the Frenchtown bar La Petite Fentre and president of the Frenchtown Civic Organization, about holding a little tête-à-tête in his small bar. Richardson acquiesced.

She tells a funny story about the first meetings.

"The French they spoke in Henry’s bar couldn’t be repeated here," she says. "After about two meetings of ‘oops,’ we looked for a different place, and Patricia La Corte offered Oceana on the point at Villa Olga where we’ve been ever since."

In fact, Richardson was one of the well-wishers Thursday night when the Consul of France in Miami Gael de Maisonneuve, announced the award. He praised De Lyrot’s remarkable efforts, strengthening the French presence in the islands.

"We will have the pleasure to feature Odile’s nomination as ‘Knight in the National Order of Merit’ in our weekly magazine, e-Toiles next week,” he said.

Lt. Governor Gregory Francis called De Lyrot, "an inspiration to the whole community, not just the French, but to the Virgin Islands as a whole."

Indeed, the diminutive consul has uncanny sonar where the French Navy is concerned. If a French warship is anywhere in Caribbean waters, like the Greek sirens she will lure it to our shores to visit and spend some of those Euros for a three-day call, which typically includes tours for the public.

"They find that the welcome here is unique,” de Lyrot said. “St. Thomas is a favorite port of call."

De Lyrot says the actual honor will likely be presented in New York this summer."Though," she says, "it is deserved by everybody, Lisette Ligins, Gaylord Sprauve, everybody who has been with me from the beginning. You may have a good idea, but you need people to put it together."

She says she believes the group will continue. "I think there’s enough energy and stamina; people will ride the wave."

She concludes, "You know, we must have had 20 nations here Thursday: France, Haiti, Italy, Switzerland, England, Canada. Everybody comes to speak French, and we never have a mean moment. Not one."