The year 1902 was the time Victor Depaz was in Bordeaux, France, to finish his studies. In the late spring when he learned of a series of catastrophic volcanic eruptions coming from Mount Pelee, on the island of Martinique. He received a message from a friend of the family located in Fort-de-France informing him that the first eruption, which occurred on May 8, 1902, had killed the entire family! The home of the family as well as the distillery and the entire estate was destroyed too. The words contained in the telegramcninfo home changed the flow of his life. He had become a feared young man with potential and privilege. He had no purpose. He was homeless and alone. Victor became an orphan at the age of 16.

The human life itself is an opportunity given to us without any assurance of happiness or prosperity. In a moment our fortunes could be altered without fault, or despite our best efforts. The child that has learned to depend on the security and affection of his family isn’t likely to be prepared for affection and love that disappear within the moment of a glance. Many people who are affected by the aforementioned tragedy feel powerless and are left with only one option: accept that their happiness is now replaced with despair. Animals and people all over the world typically surrender or surrender to fate’s cruelties. The decision to not do this would be an extraordinary thing, a term that refers to a uncommon. It is rare if one is different from the normal. Victor was a lover of his family as well as lived his life. He was sad for them. He was praying for them. He then decided to be a different kind of person. Victor was a man the day he received an e-mail. At the age of 16 years old, Victor Depaz resolved to preserve the goal that his family had planned for Victor.

The Way to the Purpose

Victor battled the overwhelming urge to go his home in St. Pierre. The human need to find closure in the event of death in the family is a tragedy, but Victor was unable to fulfill his goal by allowing the urge to do that. He wanted to honour his family by finishing his education, but it was now even more difficult since the fact that he needed to raise the money himself to pay for it. The way he lived his life was each day and one week at a time. He began to read and became a voracious reader. He was fascinated by industrial processes and then he incorporated the information he learned with his knowledge of how the process of distilling rhum performed. After a financial crisis, Victor read about banking methods. He utilized the story, that was captivating to convince Frenchmen of influence and wealth. This is how he funded his desire to go back to Martinique. It was a day at a stretch or each week and years went by before he was able to travel home. In 1917, aged 31 years old, Victor Depaz returned to Martininque. In St. Pierre, he wept at length. He was grieving over the place of his childhood, on the ground that was home to the graves that were not marked by his family. Then, he decided to become a legend!

The Courage to carry Others

St Pierre remained in ruins. The volcanic eruption of 1902 was a fatal vertical protoclastic explosion. His family was among more than 29,000 people who were killed! Thankfully, Mount Pelee had sent an additional blast to kill two thousand of the responders! The volcano was now quiet as did St. Pierre. Few people had come to clean up the ruin to live their lives there. However, Victor Depaz was home! He met an Catholic priest who fought to restore the cathedral in the town which was the symbol of hope in the moral sphere. Victor was devoted to the priest’s mission and pledged to contribute the wealth of the estate he stated that he would rebuild. Rejoicing at this man of faith the priest pledged to offer his help to Victor. In remembrance of the importance of small details and the way perseverance brought him back, Victor applied what he discovered from the book he read. The blue sugarcane was at the center of the family’s business. From can to cannot be seen (dawn) to cannot observe (sunset), Victor and the people who assisted him brought the soil on the Depaz estate to cultivating. He then built an windmill that turned the wheels that extract the juice from the cane. Following the exact method of His father’s method, he made Rhum using pure juice from cane. However, he learned that some distillers were adding sugar or molasses in order to increase production and reduce costs. Depaz rhum is less plentiful and more expensive if he didn’t incorporate the changes. If he did that, he’d be out of sync. Victor had every reason to do what was needed to stay alive. However, he was determined to restore the legacy of his family. Through the re-creation of the outstanding product created by his father the product was a success and he fulfilled his goal. He was now determined to have France acknowledge and honour this product!

A continuing story

With a steadfast determination, Victor succeeded in establishing the method of farming using only cane juice during the distillation process of rhum as an individual standard. It is the French Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) keeps that standard in place until today, and Depaz blue sugarcane juice, which is grown by the estate, distilling rhum is awarded AOC approval every year. Victor got married. He rebuilt the family home exactly as he remembered it used to be. His wife and he have filled the house with 11 children, with hope, love and. By his own children Victor was the one to set the stage for the ongoing tale that is the story of Depaz’s family. It is said that the cream rises to the top regardless of how many times it’s stirred. A truly exceptional person is successful because they do not give up regardless of how many times defeated. Victor Depaz’s legacy Victor Depaz is complete, and continues to be a part of the growing and flourishing estate, family and a superb distillery for rhum precisely where it was intended to be located in St. Pierre, Martinique. Victor Depaz was a world creator.