guy michelier - honorary consul for france
The honorary consul for France, Sacramento was introduced by Mark Urban. said that Guy Michelier was born and raised in the region of Provence, France (a very beautiful area) and his first job in the U.S. was with Levi Strauss and the Haas family. He was employed as a butler and enjoyed that a lot and has great respect for the Haas family. He worked for 28 years for the Dept. of Consumer affairs enforcement division. Now after retiring from Consumer affairs, he was appointed to a very interesting job as Honorary Consul for France - Sacramento.Guy said that his position is honorary not official. He takes his orders from the official French Consul in San Francisco. He helps French citizens in any way he can and there are 25,000 in Northern California and many who travel from France to the U.S. A lot of his duties consists of stamping passports, registering French citizens in California and he is on call for any concerns or emergencies like losing your passport at the airport (he can get a temporary one issued). Guy mentioned that he has traveled as far as Weed, California to deliver a passport. He has helped French people whose homes have been destroyed by fire. Guy told us of helping a homeless French woman and that when French people die, they often want to be buried in France - so he can help facilitate their wishes. He checks on people who are collecting pensions from France on a yearly basis to make sure they are still alive. He has goes to visit French prisoners once a year. He is busy.
Guy does not collect a regular salary but he does have expenses reimbursed. He told us a very interesting story about certifying a document which had been in a family for over 200 years and he translated the document and found that it had been signed by Napoleon! He honored the family with his signature. Although his position is an appointed one - his official term is seven years. What a great job that Guy has. A very active questioning session continued after Guy's talk.
President Dick Bauer mentioned that, in honor of his presentation, that a book will be donated to the Carmichael Library.
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| Mark Urban, Guy Michelier, Dick Bauer |