Mary Vella writes:
I always felt that Pauline was invincible.
I first met her at Rabat Girls’ Secondary School, where she was assistant head of school. Years later we worked alongside each other in the Department for Curriculum Management of the Education Division, where Pauline was assistant director, Curriculum Development.
In both instances, and since then in her retirement, whatever task Pauline was handling, and whatever difficulties work and life in general threw at her, she always faced them with serene confidence, unwavering commitment, great competence, and indisputable integrity; instilling confidence in others and inspiring them to share in her attitude and life ethics.
The true source of Pauline’s spirit was her faith in God. That was where Pauline anchored her will and her being. Nothing would shake her.
“We trust in the Lord God,” she wrote to me on June 15 as she entered what must have been a very trying time in her life.
The next source of her indefatigable energy was her enormous love for all those she came in contact with and for all humanity. Her family, sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces, must have felt her like the throbbing heart in their lives, and her friends and acquaintances had every assurance of her understanding and untiring support. Her parish in Lija had for years relied safely on her generous and wise commitment.
But perhaps Pauline’s greatest, and certainly the widest, commitment was to the many hundreds of students for whom she worked as a head of school and later as assistant director on the front line at the Educational Assessment Unit.
Pauline spared no pains to make personal contact with every particular student who needed her attention and help, because she never thought in terms of cases or issues but saw clearly through to the human beings who needed her service.
There are many young people, and now the not so young as well, who can attest to this.
My sincerest condolences to her family; I hope that like us, who were her colleagues and friends, they may find comfort in the sure knowledge that Puline’s legacy lives on in all of us who have been fortunate to have known her.
Lord, the centre of her life on earth, receive her in your loving arms.