July 13, 2008 — The Virgin Islands' honorary French consul breezes into our interview sporting two shiny blue award ribbons. They have nothing to do with France.
Odile de Lyrot is pleased as punch over a recent and unexpected experience in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she had collected two first place awards for dressage in a horse show on the way home from attending a jewelry show in Las Vegas.
All this activity is perfectly normal for the tiny consul who, at barely 100 pounds, packs the punch of someone twice her size. She was in Las Vegas in her capacity as Cardow Jewelers vice president and director of merchandising. She stopped by her friend and previous riding coach Miriam White for a brief visit and found herself entering a horse show.
Fondling her ribbons, she says, "Miriam told me I was competing in the show. I said no, she said yes. I am still so thrilled." She grew up riding in France, but White taught her dressage. "Now, when I'm 150 years old," she says, "I won't be able to ride, but I can do dressage."
De Lyrot approaches life with the drive of a platoon sergeant, though with considerably more charm. Her energy is everywhere, selecting lettuces on a Saturday at Market Square or squiring dignitaries around the island. She's equally at ease in either pursuit.
After a proper Catholic school upbringing in Paris, she completed law school in Paris majoring in tax law, where she met her husband, Cardow president Louis de Lyrot, and practiced for two years before embarking on her Caribbean adventure.
The couple moved to St. Thomas in 1985. "We were taught to follow our husbands," she says with a demure glance, and a little smile.
Louis' de Lyrot's father was the late Cardow owner William Dowling's best friend. While Louis took over administrative duties, Odile began a Cardow career at the entry level. Soon she became knowledgeable about gems, taking a course offered by the Gemological Institute of America.
And soon, she had two children to keep her occupied – Caroline, born in 1987, and Paul, one year later, both of whom are grown and attending college now.
In 2002, de Lyrot was approached by Philippe Chatignoux, Miami-based general consul of France. "He told me Aimery Caron was retiring and wanted to know if I would consider becoming the new honorary French consul," she says. "I was astonished. I told him no – I have a family and a job."
Chatignoux persisted, de Lyrot gave in a month or so later, and the island's French community hasn't been the same since.
The diminutive consul has uncanny sonar where the French Navy is concerned. If a French warship is anywhere in Caribbean waters, she is instantly on the phone with an invitation. And she's been remarkably successful in luring the ships to our shores. See "French Sailors Delighted to Find Compatriots" on St. Thomas."
In her first year as consul, de Lyrot became acutely aware of a need in the French community for a place to get together more than the once a year Bastille Day ceremonies on July 14. Thus was born Friends of the French Culture, an organization in which one can parles francais to one's heart's content — or not.
"We include everybody," she says, "you don't have to speak French." From a handful of folk who first met at La Petite Fenetre in Frenchtown, the group now numbers 20 or 30 who meet Thursday evenings at Oceana Restaurant on the Frenchtown point.
"We have members from Colombia, Haiti, French Guyana," she says. "We put everything aside for two hours and learn from each other. On Thursdays," she says, "I always go to bed less ignorant than when I wake up."
Her English is lively and amusing, catching the meaning of something in her own way. Discussing recent political events, she says, "I am sometimes not happily surprised."
She is firmly, and charmingly, opinionated. "I don't know why people go to the gym," she says. "We have the greatest outdoor gym in the world right here — take a walk on the beach."
She has just been asked to take on another five years as consul. This time, she immediately said "oui."
Philosophically, de Lyrot quotes a lesson from her yoga instructor, Marsham Sam: "If you try your best, you are doing it perfectly." She adds a thought of her own: "Pick your flowers; it's all a garden."
To learn more about the Friends group, call de Lyrot at 776-1140, ext. 1009.
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