Tribute to a sister

| by  Basil Fernando

The Lily of our family

( February 08, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) 83 years ago, a child was born to a young couple. At the child’s birth, her mother, who everyone for years remembered as a very beautiful woman, passed away. This was quite a common tragedy for many at the time. However, the families of both parents were determined to compensate the little child for her loss and to bring her up with the utmost love that they were capable of. One of the strategies that the families members, most of whom who were still quite young, came up with was for the girl’s aunt to marry the girl’s father. This thus happened. With outpourings of love, this child blossomed. A blueprint was written in her consciousness, which was to become the foundation of all her beliefs and acts in her life, and that was the belief in love.

The family named her Lily Agnes, and truly a lily she was.

After an eight decades long life, this evening she will be buried by a gathering of a large number of family members and neighbors, and others who cannot join will be watching from afar.

Those who have known her, without any hesitation and with all honesty, would say that here was a woman who has left a message that seemed to many to be so difficult to achieve in life. The message she leaves, confirmed by her life, is that love is the greatest virtue of all.

This Lily will be remembered by all who knew her as one of the most beautiful human beings that they were privileged to know.

May many such lilies be born to make this world as beautiful as she made it.