From France to the US: Finding love across the globe

Jean Paul: We met in my town. I was studying in Paris and she was as well. When I first met her, she did not speak French. But she learned it and became very fluent. And then she was a French professor at the University of Boston for four years. 

Interviewer: Could you describe the first moment you met her? 

Jean Paul: I first met her at the Cafe. And, you know, we weren’t supposed to do that back then. We were introduced by a mutual friend and then we decided to meet again, and then again, and again. We then decided to get married, but not immediately because we had to finish our studies. So, she went back to the U.S. to get her BA, and I was in a business school in Paris for my studies. We then got married one year later in Paris. That was very complicated because she was American, and I was French. 

When I had to register our marriage to the American Embassy in Paris, the person from the embassy said, “Why are you getting married? You will be divorced in a year from now.” And now we've been married for many years. That was in 1959. 

Interviewer: Since you were in France and she was in the U.S., could you elaborate about any difficulties you faced, such as the distance, and how you overcame them?

Jean Paul: Well, I came to the U.S. But, you know, it wasn’t about the geographic distance but instead that we came from two different cultures. And this is partly why we got the advice not to get married. At the time, an American woman was more free than a French woman because [French women] were living under the Napoleonic Code which structured family life in a way where the man was the boss, essentially. The women had other priorities. 

Interviewer: How did you adjust when you moved to America?

Jean Paul: I loved it! Everything was so beautiful, especially since I was in Colorado. I had never seen a mountain before. It was a beautiful environment. We went to the University of Colorado where we got our PhDs. So, we spent two years in Colorado.