8747-R2_ML&P_Hollis_2022-2023_AnnualReport_Web

Town of Hollis 2022-2023 Centurion Dedication

Denyse Parent Denyse Parent was born in Paris in 1924 and was only 15 years old when World War II broke out. Her journey from Paris to a small town in Maine was interesting, eventful and often challenging. When Germany invaded France, her father, a well-known clarinetist and member of the French Republican Guard Orchestra, moved his family to the unoccupied city of Chamalières. Denyse stayed in occupied Paris with her grandparents so that she could attend school there. As much of France was under German Occupation, life was difficult. Denyse remembers being constantly hungry and riding her bike everywhere to find food. After the war, Denyse studied law and met her first husband, a wine merchant, whose business took them to Morocco to live. After their divorce, she met her second husband, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry. When the

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