TO THREE SPECIAL FRIENDS

During the week 4-11 September 2018, I lost three special friends; a linguist, an educator, and an environmentalist.

Wolfgang Vierek

On the 4th,Prof Wolfgang Viereck, from Bamberg, Germany, passed away, at the age of 80; the sad news reached me by an e-mail from his only daughter, Nina.

Wolfgang was born in 1937. He obtained his Ph.D. in English from the University of Hamburg in 1966. His special fields of study were dialectology and the English Language. He was conferred with a D.Litt. in English Philology by the University of Mainz in 1970. Between 1973 and 1978 he was a full time Professor of English Philology at the University of Graz, and between 1978 and 2005, Professor of English Linguistics and Medieval English Literature in the University of Bamberg.

He was married to Karinwhom he so lovingly adored.

I met Prof Viereck during my first participation as a member, ina meeting of Atlas LinguarumEuropae (ALE), of which he was president between 1998 and 2005.

It was during this period that, in my presence at another ALE encounter, he suggested that the following yearly meeting be held in Malta; he wanted the members have the opportunity to see our Island. He was so happy when the members present accepted his proposaland I promised to do my best in the organization required.

It was in 1999. Iplanned the programme of activities: presentation of linguistic papers in meetings to be held at the Junior College, in Msida; visiting places in Malta and Gozo; and lodging at the Malta UniversityResidence in ĦalLija, where the members were eventually treated with a fenkata, too.

In Gozo, the coach provided by the Ministry for Gozo, took us to Ġgantija Temples, Ta’ PinuSancturay, and Dwejra where the visitors were fascinated by the Azure Window which Wolfgang and I immortalized as a backdrop in a photo, together.

Wolfgang – who authored more than 150 publications on linguistics, dialectology, and philology – was an accomplished linguist, acknowledged and acclaimed internationally: he was elected Vice-President of the International Society for Dialectology and Geolinguistics (1989-93,1993-97); Member of the Royal Humanistic Academy of Sciences, Uppsala (1995);President of the Atlas LinguarumEuropae (1998-2005);President of the International Association of University Professors of English;Member of the International Academy of Sciences (1999);Member of the Academia Europaea (2003); and Member of the Royal Society of Sciences, Uppsala (2007).

Wolfgang would be remembered among ALE members as a great meticulous scholar, but above all, perhaps, as a happy friend, ready to help one and all, with an extrovert, yet humble, and respectful personality.

To his wife, daughter, and grandchildren, my wife’s and my sympathy and condolences.

Joseph Grech

In the morning of Thursday 6th, it was my sister Marija who gave me the saddening news that Joe sive Joseph Grech from Victoria, Gozo, popularly known as ‘L-Iskipp’ (The Skipper), had suddenly passed to a better life. He was 78.

Joe and I met when we were still 12 and 10; we were members of the Salesian Boy Scouts, in Victoria. He was a true scout and grew up to become our most respected leader, our ‘Skipp’, our Baden Powell. With him there was no leniency in the rules of scouting; we had to be smart in our uniform which he would inspect with military discipline; we had to be true to the scout’s promise ‘to do our best, to do our duty to God and to the Queen, to help other people at all times, and to observe the Scout Law’.

He was a schemer and programmer; our ‘Patrol’ meetings were full of activities, and … proficiency badges were granted-meritoriously.

By his discipline and exemplary leadership, he was the righteous man who helped in the character formation of many children coming, unfortunately, only from Victoria.

Joe was a teacher; in scouting he combined all the talents he had and applied them in the holistic education for the children entrusted unto him in the group.

When discord cropped up in the running of the Salesian scout group, Joe, together with some of his collaborating scouters (including myself), worked hard, incessantly, and decidedly for the creation of the ‘Victoria Scout Group’. The official administration in Floriana trusted him and gave their consent; the new scout group was officially inaugurated in July 1963, with the blessings of the Ass. Island Commissioner for Gozo, Anton Vassallo, the Bishop of Gozo Mgr Joseph Pace, and the Island HQ authority.

A year later the group’s, and naturally Joe’s dream, were crowned with the official visit to Gozo and the group’s HQ – a building which was lent to the group by his generous mother, Georgia – by Sir Charles Maclean, Chief Scout of the Commonwealth, who was on an official visit to Malta.

Although Joe was involved with the Gozo Chamber of Commerce for these last 20 years, it is for his leadership in scouting that he would rather be remembered most. Many still cherish the scouting spirit he instilled in us. Gozo lost a great educator. To his brother George and his wife, and their children, sincere condolences.

Joe Sultana

On Tuesday 11th, in the evening, my wife drew my attention to a message of condolences (on Facebook) to the family of environmentalist and ornithologist Joe Sultana, from Xagħra, Gozo. Joe passed away aged 78, too. Joe was born and brought up in Xagħra, Gozo.

We both started as teachers, in primary schools. However, our careers separated when Joe advanced to responsibilities in ornithology, but especially the environment.

Although we must have met during our days at the Gozo Lyceum, we became friends when my father decided to give up hunting and become a member of the newly founded ‘Malta Ornithological Society’ (MOS), later renamed BirdLife Malta.

Joe once told me that my father – together with him and others – was cofounder of this society, sometime in the 1960s. Since then, whenever we met while crossing over to Malta, and elsewhere – the last time at the Ministry of Education, with Minister of Education, Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici where we worked in the period 1990-95 – we used to talk about his efforts in favour of the protection, conservation, and appreciation of birds.He used to praise my father, and anybody, who gave up hunting, and joined the society of which he was secretary and president.

He was happy to learn – from a study I published on ‘Ornithological Toponyms in Gozo – Some observations’, Hyphen, Vol. II, No. 1, Malta, 1979 – where‘ IlKanġu ta’ Filfla’ (the Storm petrel) used to, and still nests, in a cave, at the bottom of Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs, in Gozo.

Joe was a very keen bird watcher; he had equipped himself with powerful binoculars, and … books about birds, which made him an established expert ornithologist, especially on Maltese species. And – like a good, excellent teacher – he used his knowledge in talks, and articles (like those published regularly in Il-Ħajjaf’Għawdex, Bird’s Eye

View, and Il-Merillwhich he edited), scientific papers which he read in meetings and international fora, and published in bulletins and journals, and in books, among which Important Seabird Sites in the Mediterranean( 1993), Bil-Bejta( 1999), LGhasafar ta’ Malta (2001), Il-WirtNaturali ta’ Għawdex (lately published in an English version), and in several co-authored publications, the latest of which, History of Ornithology in Malta (with John J. Borg, Malta, 2015).

His tireless endeavours and personal involvement in the fields of ornithology and the environment won him both local and international recognition; he served as environment manager and principal environment officer at Villa Psaigon Field Study Centre; Chairman of the European Section of the International Council for Bird Preservation (1985-92);member on the Board of Directors of the Planning Authority (1992–97), World Council Member of BirdLife International (1994–99), Chairman of Medmaravis Council (1995–2011), Principal Environment Officer with the Environment Protection Department in 2000, consultant at the Ministry of Environment (2001–02), Technical Advisor and Chairman of the Ornis Committee (2003– 6),and member of the steering committee for the conservation and management of the environment and natural habitats of the Council of Europe.

Joe Sultana was awarded the ‘GoudenLepelaar’ by Vogelbescherming Nederland (1993), the ‘Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Medal’ (1996), ‘Honorary Life Membership’ by the British Ornithologists’ Union (1999), ‘Member of Honour’ by BirdLife International (1999), the ‘Buonamico Award’, ‘Ġieħ ixXagħra’, and ‘ĠieħGħawdex’.

Relatives, friends, but above all people from all walks of life, who flocked to the Xagħra Basilica, on Friday 14 September, evening, for his praesentecadavere funeral Mass, evinced the respect he enjoyed, for the good he had done to Maltese Society. Top of Form Bottom of Form

To his wife, Lucy, his two children Ruth and Marc, and his grandchildren, my deepest sympathy. You lost a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I lost a friend. Malta lost a great ornithologist and an environmentalist of international reputation.