To Aunty Susan, an appreciation from the eldest niece to the youngest aunt. This is the way we jokingly used to refer to one another as though we were the ends of the bridge between the two generations in our small family. She will now always remain the youngest aunt, having been taken away from us so early.

Aunty Susan was well loved and testimony to this were the crowds who thronged to Ta’ Xbiex to pay their last respects on Thursday. There is no way these few words can match the beautiful words spoken by Fr Mario Jaccarini, a person she loved and trusted so much. However, I just want to thank Aunty Susan for all she was to us, her extended family.

As a child, Aunty Susan was someone I enjoyed being with. She was kind and jolly, practical and thoughtful.

Her gifts at Christmas and birthdays were always something to look forward to since they were carefully chosen with care and attention to suit us as we grew.

Aunty Susan nurtured my love for books and reading. I used to love borrowing some of her old “schoolgirl magazines”, reading and re-reading the stories.

Aunty Susan and I shared a special bond since we were both educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. I believe this was one of the reasons why we remained close even when I grew up, got married

and formed my own

family. With Aunty Susan conversation never ran dry. She made you feel as though you could talk about anything with her and I will really treasure the last conversations we had during her periods of hospitalisation.

I guess everyone who knew Aunty Susan well would immediately agree that her life revolved around her family and the school. Uncle Lino and the boys, David and Steven, were the fulcrum and centre of her being.

She somehow always got her priorities right and only went back to teaching after the boys grew up. She had a very strong sense of duty gradually took on more responsibilities at the school a little at a time, always mindful of the fact that

her family came first.

Her love for her parents as an only child was manifestly obvious to all around her. She also loved and respected Lino’s parents tremendously and we always knew she would be visiting Nanna Melda without fail on Friday evenings.

In the last few months, we all marvelled at the way Lino, David, Steven, Carmen and Albertine looked after Aunty Susan. But she deserved no less having always been there for all of them.

Aunty Susan loved routine, she loved normality and simple things. Her motto was “pray and persevere” and I am sure it was this belief that kept her strong till the end.

“She really didn’t want to die,” were my uncle’s words at the moment of her death. Of course, she still had so much to give to us all and to her beloved Sacred Heart girls. On the morning after her death, I found solace in the picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hanging in my kitchen with the inscription “I await you with open arms”.

I am sure Aunty Susan deep down had the conviction that the Sacred Heart awaited her with open arms.

Aunty Susan, this is the first time I ever wrote an appreciation. It is more difficult than I expected and I didn’t have you around to guide me. I just hope it has met your very high standards.

Natasha Azzopardi