An ardent Francophile, Jacqueline Bucar began her lifelong study of French, French culture, lifestyle and literature in Connecticut where she was born and lived until her retirement in 2014. She taught all levels of French at Hamden High School, a suburb of New Haven. Jacqueline brought her students on field trips to Montreal and Paris and loved watching her students while they stood in awe before the Eifel Tower (“It looks just like the picture in our book!”) or when they were amazed that when I and one of the lycéens in a Montreal school conversed with each other, that we actually were having a discussion with each other.
Jacqueline majored in French and graduated from the University of Connecticut and spent 3 months working in a Parisian bookstore where she had the pleasure of knowing the inhabitants of the neighborhood and the joy of talking with each of them each day when they stopped to buy their newspaper or favorite magazine. It was an experience that she never forgot.
Jacqueline also earned a Master of Liberal Studies at Wesleyan University. And while she enjoyed reading and learning about literature and history, her love was and is always teaching French. In fact, once retired and relocated to Maine, she has been teaching Intermediate French at OLLI in Portland.
Because of declining enrollment in the 80s and the fact that she was the youngest person in the French department, Jacqueline found herself laid off each year and no job security despite being tenured. So, she went to law school at the University of Connecticut School of Law and became a lawyer with expertise in employment law and immigration law. Even as a lawyer though, she developed a French speaking clientele and represented SNCF as well as individual French clients.
Today, Jacqueline continues to teach Intermediate French at OLLI and belongs to a French book club where reading French novels and discussing them with ardent French readers and Francophones is one of great enjoyment. She looks forward to working alongside people who share these same passions as part of the Conseil d’Administration of the Alliance Française du Maine.