Claire Gaetjens was born in Léogâne, Haiti, to a Haitian mother and a German father — the latter the link in the chain that gives the Gaetjens family its mixed Haitian-elite-and-German-colonial profile. She married Georges Marcel Lebrun; their son Serge is Alex’s maternal grandfather.
The 1950 World Cup footballer Joseph “Joe” Gaetjens — who scored Haiti’s 1–0 upset of England and was later killed by the Duvalier regime — was Serge’s first cousin, the link going through Claire’s Gaetjens family.
