Denise Jaulmes was a French secondary school teacher and a lifelong IofC activist who developed an initiative to develop civics teaching in French schools.
Denise Trocmé was born on 13 September 1925 in Paris. After spending the 1940-1945 years as a refugee with her grandfather in Aix-en-Provence, Denise began studying literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. There she became friend with three other students: Claire Weiss, Micheline Roy and Elsa Pâris who were in touch with Moral Rearmament. The prospect of being able to contribute to bringing hope to a world plagued by totalitarian ideologies enthused these four young Protestants, and they all kept their commitment after marrying. (Having married, the four friends became known as Denise Jaulmes, Claire Evans, Micheline Sentis and Elsa Vogel.)
In 1955, Denise married a fellow student of the Sorbonne, Jacques Jaulmes. Both of them became teachers of classical literature, i.e. French, Latin and Greek. Jacques, who had already heard about Moral Rearmament a few years earlier, rediscovered it then and wholeheartedly took part in the regular meetings organised at the Boulogne-Billancourt French MRA centre. The couple settled in Melun, a town located 50 kilometres south-east of Paris where they would raise their three children. In spite of the distance from Paris, the family home received numerous French and international visitors, and welcomed many people requiring assistance, especially refugees and migrants, from Africa, Indochina or Eastern Europe.
An activist at heart, Denise Jaulmes used every opportunity to talk about MRA to her family, colleagues and friends, and spoke at regular local MRA meetings or in larger occasions. She organised meetings, slide shows or film screenings in her living room, or sometimes in a municipal hall, and she organised bus transport to attend Moral Rearmament shows in Paris. She was also a frequent participant in Caux, where she particularly met with fellow teachers from the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries.
Denise Jaulmes applied her convictions in her profession. She was a trade union member, and organised from 1981 onwards a teachers' association which kept her busy for some thirty years, the Association pour l'Eveil à la Responsabilité à l’Ecole (Association for the Awakening to Responsibility at School or AERE), with the aim of developing dialogue and listening in the classroom for the greater good of the pupils. The AERE team included her husband Jacques and several colleagues, notably Philippe and Mila Lobstein, Jean Leininger, Félicien Romain, Gabriel Boulade, Monique Chaurand, Marie-France Cuercq, Evelyne Seydoux... AERE published a civics textbook in 1991, based on the lives of personalities such as Gandhi, Schweitzer, Schoelcher and Mother Theresa, a collective work which was published by two publishing houses.
Denise died on 10 March 2022 at age 96, seven years after her husband. A discreet but profound spirituality sustained her throughout her life. She is remembered by many for her generous gifts to them (in terms of both financial or moral support, within and outside Initiatives of Change).
