On June 11, 2023, Margaret Huber left this world for a better place, where she will no longer have to bear the pain and suffering that had become constant, especially in this last year.
We were long-standing friends since our youth, when we first joined the congregation of St Joseph of the Apparition (SJA). Although Margaret chose to leave it after a period of many years, I believe she remained emotionally attached to us, and we to her.
After her first profession in 1970, Margaret was posted to Sliema where taught for some years until in 1976 when her wish was accepted to work as a missionary in Mauritania. In spite of the difficulties of living in such a barren country, she remained there for around eight years, during which time she forged lifelong friendships; the proof for this being that two of the French women she met there actually came to Malta from France for her funeral.
After she left the congregation in 1984, Margaret remained in France working at the Jesuit retreat centre, Les Fontaines, for 13 years, until it was closed because the huge chateau was no longer financially viable. This was a great challenge for Margaret as she loved the place and the people she worked with. For her, it was a tough decision to return to Malta and start afresh, but with her strong will, she made it.
Margaret then worked at St Monica School, Gżira, as a teacher at primary level. Margaret was very gifted at Math. She loved the children she taught – a few weeks before she died, she told me over the phone that she was looking for a notebook one of her pupils had given her. It annoyed her that she couldn’t find it as she remembered that pupil well.
Her generosity knew no bounds. Her strength was her warm and loving nature that always wanted to reach out to the poor, to the lonely, to those who needed help
After her retirement from teaching, Margaret did a lot of voluntary work and also joined some prayer groups. She reached out to neighbours and to all she met. She kept contact with her large family – brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. She even attended the wedding of one of her nephews in South Korea.
I was also one of the lucky persons to have had a lifelong friendship with Margaret. She visited me in each of my missions – in India in 1994, in Romania in 2002 and in Ethiopia twice, in 2016 and 2017.
Her generosity knew no bounds. Her strength was her warm and loving nature that always wanted to reach out to the poor, to the lonely, to those who needed help.
In every place she visited, everyone remembers her charming personality. Margaret was a great organiser, a wonderful communicator, and a very honest person.
Like her family, I miss Margaret a lot, because no matter the distance between us, the bond was strong. Even after years that we had not met, we resumed the conversation as if we had been together all along.
Fly to your rest, dear Margaret, and enjoy the embrace that the Lord is surrounding you with.
Sr Carmen Sammut, SJA