Appreciation - Raymond Ciantar

Valerie Borg writes:

It started out as another ordinary day. I woke up at 5 a.m., had endless cups of coffee, fed the cat, showered, dressed and off to work I went. Even after two years, the building called Mater Dei Hospital always brought inside me an awful sense of doom and gloom, which was funny because the building itself was mighty impressive.

A colleague met me on the hospital grounds with news that shook me to the very core of my being. Raymond Ciantar, otherwise known as Il-Baħri and who was a security officer at Mater Dei, had died during the night of October 21. At the astounding news, I froze on the spot. I had seen and spoken to Raymond two days earlier and he looked anything but at death's door. Still, upon further investigation, I found out that my colleague and friend had her facts correct.

To say I was startled and heartbroken at the death of this much-respected security officer would be putting it mildly. To all of us who work at the diabetes clinic, Raymond was a friend, a brother, a handyman, a comedian and a confessor all rolled into one. He would virtually try to cheer up anyone who felt miserable as well as being very competent in his job.

My eyes fill with tears when I remember that, some time ago, Raymond was intent on finding another job. We insisted that we would be missing him a lot. Now Raymond has not left us for another job but he has had his life ended forever and it is hard to accept the fact that we will never see his smiling-full-of-mischief face again. To his wife and his two children we have nothing but deep sympathy. His wife has lost a wonderful husband, his children have lost an adoring father and we who work at the diabetes clinic have lost a friend, an officer and a gentleman.