Simone Duvalier (; ''
née'' Ovide; 19 March 1913 – 26 December 1997), also known as Mama Doc, was the wife of Haitian leader
François "Papa Doc" Duvalier
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, King o ...
and the
First Lady of Haiti.
Early life
She was born Simone Ovide in about 1913 near the Haitian town of
Léogâne
Léogâne ( ht, Leyogàn) is one of the coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. L ...
, the daughter of a
mulatto merchant and writer,
Jules Faine, and Célie Ovide, one of the maids in his household. At an early age her mother gave her up, and she spent much of her childhood in an orphanage in
Pétion-Ville
Pétion-Ville ( ht, Petyonvil) is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate from the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. Founded in 1831 by president Jean-Pierre Boyer, it was named ...
, an exclusive suburb in the hills above
Port-au-Prince. The orphans were encouraged to acquire vocational skills and Simone Ovide was trained as a
nurse's aide. While working as a nurse she met a young doctor named
François Duvalier. The couple was married on 27 December 1939, and had four children: Marie Denise, Nicole, Simone “Queen”, and Jean-Claude, their only son.
First Lady
After their marriage, François Duvalier became minister of public health and labor in 1949 and won election to the presidency in 1957. Throughout his 14 years in office, his wife guarded access to her husband and developed and promoted her own palace favorites.
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Because of her acquired status and her imperious bearing, Haitians referred to her as "Mama Doc". She was, like her husband, reported to be a Vodou expert. She cultivated the image of a benefactor; dispensing charity to inhabitants of "Cite Simone", a planned settlement named for her that is known today as Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil ( ht, Site Solèy; English: ) is an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. Cité Soleil originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 ...
, one of the most miserable slums in Latin America.Jean-Claude Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" ( ht, Bebe Dòk), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father ...
succeeded his father as Haiti's "President for Life". Simone Duvalier retained the title of First Lady, and relished the power it conferred. According to a number of her associates, she deeply resented having to relinquish that role after Jean-Claude Duvalier married in 1980 and she was demoted to "Guardian of the Duvalierist Revolution".
Exile and death
When her son was ousted from power in February 1986, Simone Duvalier joined him and his wife, Michèle Bennett, in exile in France. She was rarely seen in public. After her son's bitter divorce from his wife, Simone Duvalier lived with her son in relative poverty in the suburbs of Paris.[
She died on 26 December 1997 at the age of 84.]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duvalier, Simone
Haitian anti-communists
1913 births
1997 deaths
First Ladies and Gentlemen of Haiti
Haitian exiles
Haitian people of Mulatto descent
Haitian Vodou practitioners
Simone