Who was Elisabeth? We all have our own memories and experiences of her. Today I will be speaking about her in the context of her being my big sister, being 6 years older than I.
It is impossible to describe Elisabeth in one word, but if I tried, that word would be exuberant. From my earliest memories of her, aided by family movies, she is racing around with a huge smile on her face. This was the same smile she had all her life, and which met me each time I arrived to visit her. I will greatly miss seeing her and her wide, welcoming smile as I alit from the train or bus. Her smile said nothing could give her greater joy in life than seeing me. What a gift she had for making one feel welcome and an honoured guest.
Of course, a single word cannot sum up Elisabeth. Highly intelligent are two other words to describe her. She was a year ahead of her peers in school, having been home schooled by my mother in Venezuela. Despite being a year younger than everyone else she was competing against, she led the province of Nova Scotia in her final exams from high school. She was awarded a full scholarship. to attend Dalhousie University where she also excelled, not only academically but also for establishing a record for the number of men who dated her in her first year.
In everything Elisabeth did she excelled. She won prestigious scholarships. She became a Professor and influenced many students who had the advantage of contact with her. Her academic brilliance was strong enough to be reflected in her tutoring me for my final exam in English in my first year at university. She assured me it would be to my advantage to introduce Hegal’s dialectic into at least one answer in the exam. Taking her advice, I achieved the highest mark the professor had ever given, all thanks to my big sister.
She was meticulous in her research and, to my knowledge, never took on anything without first researching it carefully, thinking about all the implications of various actions and then making a considered decision about action.
Elisabeth never thought of herself as a good cook but anyone who ate at her home soon realised this was false modesty. Her meals were carefully planned and executed. I remember, when I helped her prepare food her exact instructions as to how wide the zucchini strips should be cut. Nothing was a bit of this and a bit of that: it was all exactly right and delicious.
Elisabeth cared passionately about other people. Rather than rushing in to inform someone of bad news, she thought about how to best prepare the person for what she was about to say and to see if there was a support for the recipient of the information. She was careful, I sometimes thought excessively careful, but given, at one point in her life, she had to be the person ready to use the machine gun if necessary, to guard her fellow travellers who were sleeping, she probably learned the value of being extra careful.
Elisabeth taught me how to hitch hike, again taking various precautions, such as always carry cigarettes so, if necessary, you can use a lit one to burn the person who is threatening you, Make sure you have a hat pin for the same reason. In between rides in England and Wales, Elisabeth persuaded me to play chess with her. When I kept wondering why I lost every time, she did mention she had been playing against a Russian Grandmaster.
All of us remember her in different ways. I will miss her very much, her warmth towards me, her forgiving nature, her intelligence, her easy laugh, and her huge welcoming smile. Even though she suffered from dementia in her last few years, right up to and including my last conversation with her, she always recognised it was her little sister who was there. I am so glad she was my big sister