Olive Saunders.
LETTERSFrom Mark Newbery, Connecticut, USA:
I WRITE this letter with a heavy heart upon hearing the sad news of the passing of Olive Saunders.
So often I read fitting tributes to Island greats in my dad’s County Press column This Island Life and now the time has come for me to fulfil a similar duty for a lady who without a doubt helped define my teenage years growing up on the Island.
It came as no surprise to read of all the achievements and accolades Olive (pictured) earned in her lifetime, yet it is the bounty of unspoken ones that are also worthy of mention.
Like the way she helped transform a shy and awkward boy into a confident lifeguard who worked many years in the field and who went on to train others under her watchful eye; one who eventually settled far from the Island to achieve other dreams and ambitions she helped put there.
That boy, of course, grew up to write this tribute. Like most, the teenage years were a critical juncture for me, not because of the typical temptations of adolescence but because I needed to find faith in myself and a sense of direction — a path Olive led me down with conviction.
So many times when earning my first Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) awards she would come up to me and suddenly ask questions like: "Mark, give me the definition of shock."
The irony is that after all these years I think I only really learned the answer to that last Christmas when Olive wrote in her Christmas card that she was declining in health.
I could read between the lines and I wept for her struggle.
It wasn’t just me Olive touched during her reign as queen of the Island’s RLSS (to many of us Olive WAS the RLSS). There were many others, too.
One of those is my good friend, Silvano Gabrielli, who e-mailed me with the sad news, stating how much he too owed Olive and how much she meant to him.
I know of so many more who, like Silv and me will hold Olive’s legacy close to their hearts and though she may be gone from this world she lives on in the immense contribution she made to so many.
I will return home this summer, God willing, and walk the placid shoreline of Sandown beach once more. The sun will surely shine down the same and the sand beneath my feet will be as familiar ever, but I know it will be missing one of the most inspirational people I ever knew.
Whenever I hear the crash of the surf or the echoed shrill of children in a swimming pool I will remember her. God bless you Olive — and thank you for believing.