— Recollections
Recollections of Anna and Judith
by Kevin McKenna
Anna Mavroyiangou
Although it’s not strictly a Britannia story, I was Anna’s Home teacher for quite a while at the end of her life in Hyde Park, and visited her almost every day in hospital, after work. She was always very grateful and explained that she was very lonely and, as the only person to come and see her she really appreciated it, which in turn made me more determined to try even harder. When she passed away, I was invited to her funeral, a Greek Orthodox service, of which I understood exactly zero, and met members of her family and other friends. What was interesting was that I met 2 other people, both of whom used to visit almost every day and who were unaware of anyone else calling by to see Anna. Each had their normal time to visit, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, so it was unlikely that we’d bump into one another. It made me laugh that she’d maximised her visits so effectively and made me feel better that she was not as alone as it appeared.
Judith Sylvester-Benjamin
The strongest memory I have of Judith (of many) is the time when some poor unsuspecting BYU student visitors dared to sit in her seat in the end of the 2nd row on the left, behind the passers. They were wedged in quite tightly and sitting behind them I could see their puzzlement as Judith arrived, and without a word began to make her way along the row towards her goal. Being polite visitors, no one said a thing, so it was all conducted in silence. So, picture the situation…
As Judith reached the end of the row and began to wiggle her substantial derriere into the non-existent space, one student popped out of the row, looking around as if to appeal to someone, anyone, and as Judith continued to retrieve her space, another popped up, and then another. All three wordlessly looked around, thought better of appealing their exclusion and moved elsewhere, leaving their companions to enjoy the benefit of sitting right up against Judith on a warm Sunday morning.
The most memorable thing is the air of silence and calm that was maintained during the whole procedure by all concerned (and the fact that you could fit 3 Zoobies into a Judith-sized space).