Episode 99: Simone Cousteau - True Devotion: Under The Sea

Profiles in Positivity!

This Week-

Profiles in Positivity:  Simone Melchior Cousteau

Power Word for the Week: Devotion

For years, I watched "The Undersea World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau" completely mesmerized by the under water world. This week we talk a very special lady who was greatly instrumental in making all of that happen! Jacques wife, Simone!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hi. Welcome to the broadcast. As always, it's great to see you. I hope you're doing well. So we've been talking about women and men who have changed the world by opening doors and creating opportunities for others. Well, I was recently made aware of somebody that I wasn't I didn't know. And it struck me similar as our episode 58, when we took a name that was very well known, Van Gogh, but we attached a first name, Joe, that I don't think most people are aware of, unless maybe you're an art student or aficionado. And of course, we remember that uh in episode 58, uh, Joe or Josephine Van Gogh, if it wasn't for her, most likely we wouldn't have known Vincent at all. Um that's another story. But um women throughout history, of course, have played uh very important roles in things being accomplished. And unfortunately, until more recently, history has kind of let those females who did amazing things kind of be almost a side mention if they were mentioned at all. Well, today we're gonna talk about a lady whose last name you'll recognize, especially if you're past 50. And uh her first name is Simone. Well, I can think of a couple Simones that are famous, but her last name was Cousteau. Simone Cousteau. So if you're like me, I used to watch Jacques Cousteau, who was her husband, and he had uh shows about the ocean. Nowadays it's a lot more common. But long before it was a thing, Jacques Cousteau and then his wife, Simone, and eventually the two sons they had, they were uh oceanographers, they were persons who uh learned a lot about what the needs of the ocean were and fascinating things, and they also developed what we call scuba gear. Uh they called it da-da-da-da, what did they call it? They called it the aqua lung, and uh it was very innovative, and Jacques Cousteau, maybe I'll do an episode on him. Uh they uh made history and they certainly made the world aware of how powerful and yet fragile our oceans truly are. So, what about Simone? Simone Cousteau. She was born in 1919 in France, and she passed in 1990 in Monaco. And uh her family, let's see, she was not in front of the camera very much. That's maybe one of the reasons we don't think of her too much, but she was always around. In fact, they said that she was a mother, healer, nurse, and psychiatrist, which so many of us are, to her the all-male crew for 40 years. So she kept things running on board the ship. And of course, the one that uh they had in the show was the Calypso, which I didn't realize uh was actually a minesweeper. And uh they you were able to repurpose it into their exploration vehicle vessel. So uh she was born in France, her dad uh was a director with uh a liquid gas company. I don't speak French and I don't want to offend anyone who does, so I'm gonna put this in Englishy terms. Uh they ended up, her family, Simone's family, when she was young, they went to, they lived in Kobe, Japan. And at the ripe old age of five years, she became fluent in Japanese. I mean, wouldn't we all? No, not even close. So she ended up meeting Jacques in 1937. He was a naval officer, and she was he was 26 and she was 17. They got married in Paris in 1937. After they honeymooned in Switzerland and Italy, they settled in France, they had two sons, uh, and her dad in 1942 helped uh manufacture and finance um the aqualone, uh which we know as scuba, scuba diving. And it's interesting, actually, the whole thing is interesting. This is like most episodes, it could go on and on and on and on. But in 1950, they did purchase the calypso, and to help pay for the fuel, she Simone sold her jewelry and also her furs to buy a compass and a gyroscope for the calypso. So this week our power word is devotion. Uh, this is a woman who is wholly devoted to her husband and their cause and learning and growing, and she could let go of the jewels and the furs because she wanted to learn. Uh, in 1963, she is recognized as the first female uh aquinaut. She lived in something called the Starfish House, which was an underwater habitat, which was one of their experience uh experiments. Jacques Cousteau said that she was the happiest out of camera range and in the crow's ness of the calypso, and she said uh she would watch the ocean and nothing would get by her. She died of cancer in 1990. A lot happened because of the steely determination and the holy devotion of Simone. And you and I, and actually the rest of the world, can uh be feeling blessed and fortunate because much of their explorations yielded a great deal of information and data that is used now for the oceans and all oceanographers. In March of 2021, the Women's Divers Hall of Fame announced on International Women's Day that there was a new research grant in her name. So, a fascinating woman, Simone Cousteau, loving wife, mother, devoted oceanographer, first uh scuba diver, and a developer of the scuba. Long list of great things, and we have a lot of reasons to feel very proud of that. And if you look on YouTube, I'm gonna see if I can't put the link in the notes, because I think I can do that. We'll see. Um, there's also in this very beautiful uh video on YouTube, uh, it's about eight and a half minutes long. Uh there it part of it shows JFK um putting uh giving Jacques a gold medal from National Geographic in recognition for his contribution. And and they got they got a bunch of other stuff, but uh really amazing. And it's so exciting and reassuring to see women finally get recognized for their devotion and they're willing to make sacrifices to push the needle forward and to benefit everybody. Yeah, it's a good thing. So, power word, devotion, and it's Simone Cousteau Groucho Marks is our featured funny guy. He says, I have my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others. Thank you, Groucho. So, my friend, enjoy your week. Remember that you are valuable, you are precious, and everything that you do matters. So be the high quality person that you are and keep creating a life that you love because you deserve it. And what an amazing impact that has for everyone around you and for many others you may never, never know. So have a great weekend, pardon me, week, and I will look forward to seeing you again. Take care.