She entertained Swiss Army troops at the Hôtel de Gare in Courgenay, which was owned by her family, and became popular with the soldiers.

In 1917, the composer and folklorist Hanns In der Gand gave a concert at the hotel and performed his new song La petite Gilberte, written about Montavon.

Two films, August Kern's Marguerite et les soldates in 1940 and Franz Schnyder's Gilberte de Courgenay in 1941, were based on her life.

[3] In 1914, Montavon returned from school, due to the war, and began working as a waitress at her parents' hotel, the Hôtel de Gare.

[1] In 1939, Rudolph Bolo Mäglin wrote a novel based on Montavon, titled Gilberte de Courgenay, and a stage play of the same name that was performed at the Schauspielhaus Zürich and in Basel.