Remembering Sybil Francis

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I REMEMBER Sybil Francis very well for her gentle guidance, intuitive judgement, and social conscience, which she offered generously as a trustee of the Wolmer’s Trust in the 1970s when I was the very young trustee student council representative on the Board of the Wolmer’s Schools.

As colleagues and members of the Alan Rae-led Wolmer’s Trust at that time, we appreciated and ingested her deep introspection on the governance of the character and aspirations of youth and her passion for self-actualisation in a new and dynamic construct of social consciousness and responsibility.

With other fellow trustees like the late Dr Matthew Beaubrun, Carol Thorbourne, George Lazarus, and my mother, Leonie Samuda, she was a textbook of wisdom and emboldened leadership which went far beyond the blackboard then and certainly today’s digitised and virtual screens of education. For her words inspired conscience, humane thoughts and intellectual integrity.

We all sat at the table with an indomitable commitment to the Wolmer’s Schools, but in her company, we knew very well that we were in the noble business of educating a nation and building a gentler humanity.

Rest well and peacefully, Sybil. Your work at your alma mater and in the Vineyard was indeed fruitful. CHRISTOPHER L. SAMUDA Chairman

Wolmer’s Boys’ School