He’s a strong man with a tender heart who left too soon. Jean-Louis Audiffren was an endearing character. Messages on social networks arrive from Antibes and Nouméa where this great sportsman, Pacific judo champion, was esteemed. Born in Marseille, Jean-Louis has always and will continue to be Antibois.
Very young he came to the city of the Remparts to learn the trade of coachbuilder with his uncle in La Fontonne. He then lives with his grandmother who runs the bar at Safranier.
A true force of nature, Jean-Louis was not predestined to be athletic. But in his job, he was able to lift a 4CV. A strength that did not escape Raoul Flori, one of the great masters of judo, who initiated him to his second dan.
In the early 1960s, Andrée, a pretty brunette, arrived at the garage to have her car repaired. Jean-Louis falls in love. He is going to redo her wing with love. “He was my brother Henri’s friend who also did judo, explains his wife, called Dédé. He told her I entrust my sister to you. It had not fallen on deaf ears, since on June 4, 1966, Dédé and Jean-Louis married at the town hall of Antibes. Year in which the free commune of Safranier was created.
March 15, 1969 is the adventure. The couple decides to join Henri, Dédé’s brother, settled in New Caledonia.
After the adventure on the car side, Jean-Louis then owns a weight room. Dédé gives dance lessons. Then the twins arrive, Pascale and Brigitte. They become dancers and choreographers, like their mother.
It is the meeting with Johnny Hallyday, a regular of the place. They will share many stays together giving Jean-Louis the desire to sing with his friend. Hence his vocation as a singer.
But judo, his passion, takes over. This nice Teddy Riner colossus won the titles of Pacific champion in all categories twice in 1975 and 1979. Ten times champion of New Caledonia and gold medal at the Pacific Games in Guam…
In 1980, the disappearance of a loved one pushed the couple to return to Antibes. He won’t leave again. A friend pushes Jean-Louis to pass the municipal police examination. He succeeds. He returns to his first love and joins the mechanical workshop to take care of the vehicles. A member of the free commune of Safranier for twenty years, Jean-Louis was unanimously elected president, alongside Zézé Marconi for several years. He is also one of the first Ficanas, never outdone when it came to joking.
Fusion couple, Dédé and Jean-Louis were inseparable. In retirement, also surrounded by his two twins, grandpa cake had taken under his wing his granddaughter Ornella.
A great void for all those who loved him.
The funeral of Jean-Louis Audiffren will be celebrated Thursday January 20 at 11 a.m. in the cathedral of Antibes.
In this painful circumstance Nice morning offers his condolences to his wife Andrée, twins Brigitte and Pascale, his little daughter Ornella (quiquine), family, as well as to all those affected by this mourning.
