Appreciation: Dr Sylvia M. Haslam

I am most grateful to Joseph Borg for his article in the Times of Malta (July 8) as this was the only way I was to be made aware of the very sad news of the passing of Dr Sylvia M. Haslam on June 6.

I got to know Sylvia around 1964 when I joined the Science Faculty of the University of Malta as secretary.

Indeed I found Sylvia a most amiable person to work for. She kindly involved me in all the typing of the preliminary manuscript of A Flora of the Maltese Islands, much of the original work of which I translated from Italian into English.

It is through her patience, time and guidance that I also learned how to obtain my driving licence when she volunteered to let me drive her blue Morris Minor around the Valletta bastions during the then one-and-a-half-hour daily lunch breaks. Thus through her patience and help, and through official weekly instructions, I managed to obtain my driver’s licence to roam round the then spacious thoroughfares in the dangerous style of Stirling Moss!

We always kept in touch over the years and whenever I visited Malta from the UK, she would invite me to her flat in Swieqi and when she returned to Cambridge, she had me over for the odd weekend at her place.

She was a lady in a million. An English lady from the old school: always proper, kind and helpful. Ready to give advice and to show genuine care. Very rare qualities not so easy to come by in today’s hectic world.

Her friendship never wavered. It was I who was guilty of neglecting to keep up the correspondence except at Christmas. Even last Christmas I am culpable of not having written, just gave her a quick call to wish her the best for the season. Little did I know that that would have been my farewell call. It is when it’s too late that one regrets one’s guilt.

So goodbye dear Sylvia. You will always be in my thoughts and in my prayers. May God reward you for being such an unselfish and kind friend.

My deep condolences to your brother and your extended family.