Victoria Blackman writes:

In November, I lost the best part of my youth. My best friend, Vivienne Gatt, went to meet our Lord.

I first met Vivienne and her brother, Mario, when we were circa five years old. Vivienne and I became inseparable during our youth. She was the calm, organised one while I was the impetuous one.  We were total opposites in every other way.

Like me, she was a great reader and her tastes were eclectic.

Vivienne was one of the founders of the Early Teens Centre in San Ġwann.  In fact, she was the first secretary and took her job very seriously. This centre was started in our early teens and, together with all our friends, we – well, mainly she and the rest of the committee – organised pageants during Christmas and Easter and held fund-raising activities.

Most of our old friends will surely remember the long hikes, the discoes we used to organise and, most of all, the sense of well-being during the evenings that we all spent together when we all gathered at the church hall to hang out and play table tennis. All this happened under the eagle eyes of both Fr Noel Barbara [now Bishop of Kenya] and Fr Publius Mair, who took care of us all.

She was loyal to her friends and helpful, always willing to lend a hand or perhaps give some good advice.  She was a much-beloved person with a very good heart.

During her illness, Vivienne never complained. Her courage and faith will surely be an example to all who knew her.

My heart goes out to her mother, Mary, and her brother and family. May God keep his hands on them and console them through this difficult time.

I will never forget Vivienne. She will always be a part of my heart.