At the age of 79, Jean-Marie Baltus took off his long raincoat to put on his costume of light. A teacher by training, he taught for a few years in Sibret before joining the provincial committee of the Red Cross in Arlon as provincial commissioner for around thirty years. Jean-Marie Meyer, now founding president of the Red Cross house in Attert, remembers: “Jean-Marie came to see me in 1989 to open a Red Cross section in Attert, he was truly committed to the Red Cross and active in the field. He helped us a lot and always followed our projects very closely. He always encouraged volunteering, he was very available. I have excellent memories of it.“
Man of heart but a heart of Borquin too! He worked a lot in scouting, becoming unit leader at Saint-Hubert for many years. “Jean-Marie was like my big brother, I was always considered the little brother of the Baltus familysays Aimé Vanesse. Jean-Marie was a brother, a friend, he was a great teacher and he was a real source of Saint-Hubert history too. He had strong ideas too..”
Founding member of Terre et Abbaye
Saint-Hubert and its history had very few secrets for Jean-Marie. He was one of the founding members of the Terre et Abbaye association, which later became the non-profit organization the Saint-Hubert d’Ardenne history circle. Richard Jusseret, the president, transmitted to the members these few words: “Jean-Marie was a founder, a faithful, a fighter, a friend. His determined and decisive interventions and actions for the safeguarding of heritage will be missed. With him, a library disappears. May he rest in peace.“
Michel Laurent, also a local personality benefiting from a long career within the commune, knew Jean-Marie : “He was a real Borquin at heart, one of the memories of Saint-Hubert, he had a real righteousness of spirit. Although having lived for several years near Arlon, it has been more than twenty years since he returned to Saint-Hubert, to whom he had an unconditional love.“
Jean-Marie Baltus rests at the funeral home of the Nicolas Moiny funeral directors in Saint-Hubert. The funeral liturgy will be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint-Hubert this Wednesday, February 22 at 11 a.m.
