SCOTTSDALE, AZ — You’d never know that the 98-year-old woman working out next to you in a Scottsdale gym helped save more than a dozen lives in World War II.
More than eight decades ago, by the time Jacqueline Kervizic turned 16, the Nazis occupied her home city of Paris and her father joined the French resistance movement, aiding downed Allied pilots get to safety.
"When he asked me if I wanted to join the French underground, there was no question. Of course I did,” Kervizic said. "We did it because we loved our country.”
Kervizic said her family sheltered 13 soldiers, Americans, Englishmen, and a Canadian, in their small Paris apartment, waiting on code phrases through the radio to lead them on to their next phase to freedom.
"They occupied my bedroom and I slept in the hall, which was quite often. They would stay with us approximately three weeks,” Kervizic said. “I had to walk them through Paris to the Botanical Garden in Paris, big garden, and we would sit on chairs opposite each other until someone would come to get him.”
Watch an extended interview with more of Kervizic’s story in the player below:
Thumbing through her old dictionary, Kervizic said she only knew a few English phrases, mostly about food. Baking for others has been her language of connection, from the War until now.
“We had a man, he was from California. One day, my mother baked three apple pies...he ate all three of them in one day,” Kervizic said. “I never forgot him.”
Multiple certificates of thanks hang in her hallway, one from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, another from Ronald Reagan, and more from those who knew the soldiers she helped personally.
“Nothing is ever free. That's the main thing,” Kervizic said. “I’ll never live long enough to thank all the people who liberated my country.”
Now, Kervizic lives in Scottsdale, sharing her memories with the friends she sees at the gym every day.
“I was kind of blown away,” friend Mark Koster said. "My dad actually served in WWII. He was actually there in France while Jacqueline was living there
“— The type of man I helped,” Kervizic interjected.
“So who knows, they might have even ran into each other,” Koster said.
