Célima Dorcély Alexandre, former first lady of Haiti, was born 90 years ago

Ninety years ago, on October 26, 1936, Célima Dorcély Alexandre was born in Ganthier, in the department of the West. She was the First Lady of Haiti from February 29, 2004 to May 14, 2006.

A Life Beside Boniface Alexandre

She grew up in Ganthier. In 1952, at her cousin's house, she met Boniface Alexandre, with whom she settled and had four children: Jean Bony, Schiller, Berwick, and Marjorie. The couple did not get married religiously until 1990. In 2004, after Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown, her husband, then the chief justice of the supreme court, became interim president, and she became First Lady.

A Discreet First Lady

During this period, she built a chapel in Thomazeau. She also led the Haitian delegation to a conference of First Ladies held in Paraguay from September 28 to 30, 2005, her only official trip abroad. Historian Jean Robert Hérard, author of "The First Ladies of the Republic of Haiti (1957-2019)," noted that no public financial scandal touched the couple and attributed this to their origins and humility.

A Death in Delmas

She died on August 11, 2020, from the effects of a stroke at the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Delmas, near Port-au-Prince. Her funeral took place on August 22, 2020, at Saint-Pierre Church in Pétion-Ville, and she was buried the same day in Ganthier.