Chief Justice Emeritus Vincent De Gaetano, writes:
Last week, the death was announced of Margot Bonello – ‘Auntie Margot’ to all those who knew her when they were children and who continued to refer to her as aunt by way of deep affection and great respect.
To many who were brought up in the Sliema/Tignè area in the late 1950s right up to the early 1980s, Margot was a symbol of generosity that defied description. It was not the generosity of alms giving, though she was also responsible for helping raise funds for various charities and good causes; it was more the generosity that translates itself into giving one’s time unconditionally towards a just cause, helping out wherever help was needed, advising and encouraging. The generosity of ‘being there’ when needed.
Perhaps I am partial, for reasons which I have never made public but which now I must. When my late mother lost both her parents and her younger brother during an air raid over Mosta and moved in with another brother who lived at the top of what is today Ċensu Xerri Street, Margot and her family took my mother under their care. I still recall my mother speaking about Margot’s generosity, especially in the months and weeks leading up to my mother’s wedding.
When, in 1985, my father passed away suddenly at home, Margot was one of the first people from whom I sought help: as soon as I broke the news to her, she dropped whatever she was doing and rushed back home with me to help me compose my father’s body until the arrival of the undertakers later in the day. She was that kind of person: endowed with great presence of mind, unfailing courage and, above all, imbued with Christian piety that made her undertake tasks where other would have flinched.
For over half a century, first as part of the Girl Guides movement and then, later, on her own, she tended war graves at Kalkara and kept up correspondence with relatives of those buried there.
Speaking at a luncheon in honour of the visiting Maltese Prime Minister in August 1990, former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke had this to say about Margot: “In 1946, a young Maltese girl began tending the graves in Malta of Australian airmen killed in World War II. Moved by the sacrifice of the Australians, she also began organising wreath-laying ceremonies, single-handedly honouring the Anzac spirit. For 44 years, Margot Bonello has continued in these quiet endeavours, not for profit or gain, but in simple recognition of the dignity of life. Earlier this year, Margot Bonello’s work was recognised formally by the Australian people when she was made an honorary member of the Order of Australia.”
In summer, she taught countless children to swim and dive, whether on the rocks below Bonavia’s Printing Press (before they were obliterated to widen the promenade) or at the Sliema pitch. Always energetic (she was also a good tennis player) and vivacious, with a ready smile and loud laughter, many still remember how she showed her affection to children – with the legendary pinch on the cheek and a big hug. Many remember her contribution to the Dunera and Devonia school cruises.
Departure is, of course, inevitable for each and every one of us but, as time goes by, we tend to mull over the ‘significant others’ in our lives who have left before us. Auntie Margot was one of those significant others for countless people.
May she rest in peace.