Always smiling, the joy of living, the love of her profession, the pride of working in a daily newspaper, in a sports department where she could write, follow sports news, live as close as possible to these sportsmen of any level she loved so much.
These words come from her husband, Philippe Hervé, who, this Sunday, March 27, still had the strength and the courage to speak of the mother of his two boys, Elouan and Yanis, when announcing the terrible news.
As a sign, it was on a Sunday, a cycling race day in Eure-et-Loir, that Isabelle left us. If it hadn’t been for this terrible illness she’s been battling for years, she would certainly have set out to cover the day’s race, pen in her right hand, notepad propped up in the other, ready to pounce on the winner of the day, even if it was an illustrious amateur.
Isa simply loved sports people, especially cyclists, but not only!
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Cycling was her great passion and the Eurelian peloton gave it back to her, for two decades that she had been surveying the department. This native of Normandy knew quite a bit. She liked to tell us about the summers of her childhood spent on the edges of the roads of the Tour de France, her summers in the passes near Alpe-d’Huez.
Before becoming a brilliant journalist, accredited many times on the biggest cycling event in the world, she had found a way, when she was younger, to be hired as a hostess on the ceremonial podium to kiss the winners. That was Isa, full of joy, of passion.
From the small cyclo-cross in the undergrowth, which is very tricky, to the beautiful finish lines of the stages of the Tour where no one forgot to greet her. A simple phone call to Christian Prudhomme and the boss of the Tour was happy to answer Isabelle’s questions. In no time at all, she was able to give you a full-page interview or even a well-polished portrait of a basketball player, her other favorite sport. But now, fate willed it otherwise.
For three years, she had left her office for another fight. We will no longer see “our Isa” and her long ebony black hair whose first white hair she was trying to hide, discussing bitterly the place of women in a sports editorial staff surrounded by fellows who took a hell of a blow on the head, this Sunday .
This Sunday, March 27, 2022 will remain like a tear in this sports department and in an entire newspaper, a fault that will take long seasons to close.
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We will no longer have our moments of exchange, our debriefs over a coffee on Sunday morning. The long lively discussions on cyclist brothers born in the south of the department, on the beautiful eyes of a coach, on the beautiful sporting promises of a hopeful.
This n° 25047 of the newspaper which saw you take your first steps in its editorial staff in March 2001, The Republican Echo dedicate it to you, Isa. Thinking very strongly of Philippe, Elouan and Yanis, your men, who understood that your job was everything for you. Your passion.
Hervé Paraut
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