The couple of furniture dealers, well known in Toulouse, died on Saturday. Marie-Ange and Philippe Sicre chose to leave together rather than undergo heavy treatment.
Marie-Ange and Philippe Sicre died as they had always lived. Together. Benoît and Marion lost their mother and father on the same day. They were 73 and 77 years old respectively. The couple died last Saturday, rue de la descent from the Halle aux Poissons, in Toulouse. According to their will, Marie-Ange and Philippe Sicre died, together, in their room, facing the Pont Neuf, “with their cats on the bed”, specify their children, who were also present at all times, during the four intense days and four nights preceding their departure. In addition to the team of caregivers, “all great”.
“Our parents left together following a sedation operated at the same time for both”, continue the children.
This couple of furniture dealers, well known to Toulouse residents, ran the eponymous shop in Pont-Neuf from the 1980s until 2000 (now replaced by the Casino). Then, the Sicres got into renting rental equipment. Inseparable, they did everything together: work, live, travel…
Nicknamed “Les amants du Pont Neuf”, they met 50 years earlier and never left each other. “They didn’t exist without each other. They proved it to us until the end, ”says Marion, their daughter, who immortalized their tied hands with her phone.
Happy and whimsical
Lovers of objects, culture and travel, the couple have turned their house into a veritable living museum. AND in the ultimate ordeal they went through, Marie-Ange and Philippe Sicre were able to help each other. Shortly before his death, Philippe Sicre sent, from his bed, a farewell email to friends in which he evoked “the incurable cancer” of his wife; “his sudden acute leukemia and covid”, and their common desire “to stop everything and go into home hospitalization mode, into palliative care”, waiting for the end.
Known for being a whimsical and humorous couple, “their friends first thought it was a joke”, says Benoît, the son. In this email, Philippe Sicre even has the mischief to ask the four friends who will carry his coffin, to place the two smallest in front and the two largest behind, “just to make me rock in the box”.
“Until the end, our parents allowed us to think of them in a playful way. They saved us a long agony by synchronizing ”, slips Marion, her eyes moist.
“With such a show of strength, courage and love, they filled us for the future. Despite the pain, we are calm,” recognizes Benoît.
The funeral of Marie-Ange and Philippe Sicre will take place this Friday in Revel, where the couple owned a family home.