What is so great about stars is that even after they cease to burn their radiance reaches the eyes of countless children over many years.

We, Joëlle's immediate family, have lost our sun, but we are consoled by the radiance we see reflected in so many of you: our family, our friends, and the great Ecole Claire Fontaine community that Joëlle created and nurtured for more than thirty years.

-Jimmy, Gwendoline et Clay

Memorial Services

Funeral Mass

Saturday, December 17 at 10:00am Pacific
Saint Paul the Apostle Church
10750 Ohio Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90024
YouTube Link

Celebration of Life

Saturday, December 17 at 12:30pm Pacific
Courtyard of the Fontaine Campus
815 Venice Boulevard, Venice, California 90291

Attire: In keeping with one of Joëlle’s strictest rules, no black. Please dress colorfully.

Burial

Thursday, December 22 at 1:15pm Pacific
Holy Cross Cemetery
5835 West Slauson Avenue, Culver City, California 90230

The ceremony will commence at 1:15pm in section EE. If the procession has already left the entrance when you arrive, the guards will be able to direct you. 

Funeral Mass


Celebration of Life

A video from the memorial service will be available soon. In the meantime, the text from the eulogies is available here.

Joëlle Evelyne Gwen Dumas

1949-2022

On December 12, 2022, Joëlle passed to another plane, peacefully and painlessly, surrounded by her husband Jimmy, children, Gwendoline and Clay, sister Anne, and hermana Lily. For the past few years she willed herself to school, farmers’ markets, and community gatherings in spite of an aggressive cancer and the treatments intended to slow it down. Now she is resting.

May her memory be an inspiration to body surf at sunrise, show up first to the farmers’ market, speak fearlessly in foreign languages, and above all else, to eye the world through the eyes of children.

Joëlle est décédée paisiblement et sans douleur, entourée de son mari Jimmy, de ses enfants, Gwendoline et Clay, de sa sœur Anne et son hermana Lily. Au cours des dernières années, elle s'est rendue à l'école, aux marchés et aux rassemblements communautaires malgré un cancer agressif et les traitements destinés à le ralentir. Maintenant, elle se repose.

Puisse sa mémoire être une source d'inspiration pour se baigner au lever du soleil, arriver la première au marché, parler sans crainte dans de langues etrangères et par-dessus tout, percevoir le monde à travers les yeux des enfants.

Share a memory

If the spirit moves you to share a memory of Joëlle or ECF, our family would be grateful to hear from you. If you have a photo or video to include, please email it to memories@laclairefontaine.org.

Si vous avez envie de partager un souvenir de Joëlle ou de l’ECF, nous vous serions reconnaissants de le partager. Si vous avez une photo ou une vidéo à inclure, veuillez l'envoyer par e-mail à : memories@laclairefontaine.org.