Tonio Borg writes:
When I visited Winston in hospital, racked as he was by a terminal illness, I was impressed by his smile and his interest in everything that was going on around him.
When I had called him some days before, he had told me about his physical frailty; but when I went to see him, I found the same Winston I always knew, smiling and ready to help the others.
He was goodness personified – always ready to give a helping hand; always ready with some word of encouragement and wisdom for others. He never gossiped about anyone.
Winston lived a simple life and had a warm and generous heart. I remember him being very active in the Catholic groups at University when I was still young.
He loved history, which he used to teach at the Lyceum, but his special love was reserved for Sliema in general and the Sacro Cuor parish in particular, run by the Franciscan Friars.
He used to keep a sort of diary registering anything that occurred in Sliema in all spheres whether religious, profane, social or political, which he used to keep in ordinary copy books.
Winston used to regularly send me copies of his researched articles, which he used to write in Dawl Franġiskan published by the Franciscan Order, and he had a special devotion to Birkirkara and the town’s patron St Helen... so much so that he once told me that he used to serve as an altar boy there even though he resided at Sliema.
When I was first elected to Parliament in 1992 he was one of the first to congratulate me for he happened to be in Valletta where the casual election was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.
In his goodness and simplicity, each time an election approached he used to send me a letter of encouragement written in his impeccably neat handwriting. He cared about everyone.
I do not know whether the mould by which people like Winston used to be formed is still available.
If not, we urgently need to find it again; for the human and Christian values which Winston cherished should be a beacon for us in this life; to help us live serenely as he did.