Clotilde Ngouabi née Martin (4 June 1940 –30 October 2019) was a French-born public figure who served as the first First Lady of the Republic of the Congo from 1969 to 1972, as the wife of President

Marien Ngouabi Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was the third President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969, to March 18, 1977. Biography Origins Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 at the village of Ombellé, Cu ...

Biography

Martin was born in

Walscheid Walscheid (Lorraine Franconian ''Wolscheid'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Population Notable people * Clotilde Ngouabi (1940–2019), French-born First Lady of the Republic of the Congo (1969 ...

, France. Her father Jean-Baptiste Martin was the lumberjack in the region. After the municipal school, she joined the Troisfontaines glass factory as a worker, before moving to Strasbourg. There she met young

, a Congolese student at the Saint-Cyr Special Military School. They married in 1962 and moved to Congo where Ngouabi, promoted to lieutenant, took up his post in the Congolese army before becoming the third president of the Republic of Congo in 1968, and Martin became the First Lady.

References

1940 births 2019 deaths People from Moselle (department) French emigrants to the Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo people of French descent First ladies of the Republic of the Congo {{Poli-bio-stub