Obituary of Coralie Duchesne

Our beloved Mamá, Coralie, was a citizen of the world. She was born in Calcutta, India from a Welsh father and a British mother who were living in India. Mamá Coralie came with her mother to Stratford On-Avon, England at the age of four. She was educated in boarding schools in the UK. Coralie entered the University of Sorbonne in Paris when she was eighteen. She met our father, Juan Duchesne, while she was at the Sorbonne studying History. Very soon they married and moved to Madrid, Spain. My father Juan went on to finish his medical degree in Spain. They lived in Madrid for around seven years and had three children, Juan Ramón, Moira and Laurent, all born in Madrid. Coralie was an avid reader and soon she was fluent in a third language. Apart from English and French, she learned Spanish. She loved Spain and those years in Spain were very happy years. Around 1956, the entire family moved to Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, she lived around 14 years, mostly in Humacao. She had three more children born in Puerto Rico, Rossana, Ricardo and Giselle. Mother studied Art in the University of Puerto Rico with mentors like John Balossi, Rolando Lopez Dirube, and Alfonso Arana. Art became her passion during her last years living in Puerto Rico. She would spend hours painting portraits, landscapes and abstract paintings, while at home with a view of the countryside in Pitahaya. She painted under the name of Coralie Gupta. Mamá spoke not only perfect Spanish but Puerto Rican Spanish. She learned all the local expressions, words, and she spoke Spanish to all of her children. In 1970, Coralie divorced Juan Duchesne and soon thereafter moved to Montreal, Canada. While in Canada, she developed a passion for theatre and writing. She became a playwright and short story writer, publishing under the literary name of Coralie Del Roble Duchesne. Her plays Matters of Class and Race, Also Sex, Marrakech, and Electric Moon Over Nowhere Street have been performed in Montreal. Electric Moon Over Nowhere Street was published by the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada in 1991. Marrakech was published in Postdata, a Spanish/English quarterly. A story, “Pictures Of A Happy Family,” was published under the name Coralie Lucas in Encounter magazine in the U.K. She has also published in The Massachusetts Review magazine. Coralie traveled to Casablanca in Morocco, Malaga, Spain, and London, where she lived a few years again during the 1980’s. Coralie moved to Ottawa in 2014. She passed away November 13, 2016 at the age of 86. Coralie was survived by her six children, Juan Ramón, Moira Jelka, Rossana, Laurent, Ricardo and Giselle. She also has 12 grandchildren, Jelka, Yara, Dafne, René, Sacha, Lara, Dimitrios, Kleis, Ariadne, Camila, Sophia and Isabella. Her great grandchildren are, Ambar, Coral, Natalia, Julián, Christian, Leila, Evan, Dimitri, Julian, Zayn and Caden.