Obituary of Elizabeth Chandy

I heard about her death from a student, and I looked and checked the obituary in the papers (Tuesday, 9th December 2008). I wasn’t sure whether it was her, so I checked with Ms Susan who is Elizabeth’s sister. Susan said that Elizabeth had a heart attack, and her death was unexpected. She was still young – only 49 years old!

I had only known Elizabeth for a very short period of time; when I was in Sri KDU at the end of November for two weeks of staff training. Elizabeth was the Maths teacher in Sri KDU, and she joined this year after I left in May, so I did not have the privilege of getting to know her better.

I mentioned her death to a few students, and all of them were honestly shocked and saddened by what had happened.

Because I did not know her well, I won’t attempt to write a beautiful memorial because… well, I don’t know her enough to write something meaningful that would have been true to her memory. So all I can say to Elizabeth is: It was a real pleasure to have met you even if it was brief; I know you were a dedicated teacher who always strove to give your students the best. God bless you, and may you rest in peace.

Oh. Here’s a candid shot of her that I took during the staff training. That’s erm, all I have in her memory.

Elizabeth during staff lunch