I was in her lecture and seminar classes throughout my college years and they were one of the very few classes that I wouldn't miss come Hail or Shine. Her classes were always full and in demand with many students fighting tooth and nail to be one of the chosen few to attend her seminars. She was a tough marker but yet she was fair in her criticisms. Because of you ,Ros, I now never make the dreaded mistake of not backing up my statements.
It was during my MA year that I saw Ros the person not just Ros the lecturer. One memorable occasion was when I was stressed over some petty person's antics and she brought me into her office sayin I'm daft for crying and then saying something sensible yet sympathetic, and then lightened the mood by making me have a giggle fit over something funny.
It will take a long time for the Ros shaped hole to heal but I'm glad I'm one of the lucky ones who knew her. Unfortunately I'm not much of a writer but this poem I found sums up this loss:
A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says
She is gone.
She is gone.
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her.Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment, when someone at my side says she is gone, there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout -There she comes!
Thank you for everything Ros may you rest in peace xxx♥♥♥
Lovely tribute Mairead
ReplyDeleteIt is such a tragedy. I never got the chance to attend her classes, because she fell ill the year of my MA, but so many people that I respect respected and cared for her and will miss her greatly.
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