I would like to share some thoughts and memories about my Aunt Mary, David Barber?s late wife, who inspired his extensive philanthropy.

My husband and I were on holiday in Paris when David Barber died, and on our return my cousin, Stephen Hayward, informed us of the sad news. My dear Aunt Mary was a loving wife and partner to her husband, and was instrumental in his eventual success. She had a sharp legal mind, and knowledge of Bermuda business. She was able to handle and advise on the documentation and legal issues involved in David?s burgeoning entrepreneurship.

David was ebullient and outgoing; Mary was a very private person who preferred the company of her family. It was rare that anyone other than family was invited to their home.

David was the perfect hotelier; he enjoyed meeting new people, with jokes and jollity. He was also a visionary, seeing the promise in turning the old Frascati Hotel in Flatts into the Coral Island Club, and bringing a taste of New York nightlife to his brilliant Pirate?s Den.

Among the acts I remember were Kaye Ballard, Professor Irwin Corey, Tony and Eddie, and Paul Mazursky, now a famous Hollywood director, who did a comedy act to raise money to go to California. The Barbers had a well balanced relationship. Over their years together, David became deaf and Mary lost her vision to macular degeneration, and they were able to be each other?s eyes and ears.

I am now 65 years old, but I remember when my ?Auntie Mary? first visited us in Philadelphia, shortly after the end of the Second World War. She was tall, elegant and glamorous. When she opened her suitcase, I smelled Bermuda: the scents of sea, cedar, and oleander had permeated her clothing. She produced a magnificent doll for me, and also brought the present I got at Christmas, the amazing doll house crafted by David and decorated by Mary.

It had electrified lamps, glass windows with curtains, handmade upholstered furniture, a lawn with a picket fence, and a Victorian mirrored ball on a pedestal. It was the treasure of my childhood. My mother later told me that Mary had got samples from wallpaper stores to paper the walls. She was adept at arts and crafts and was an expert dressmaker, and later in life decorated boxes with decoupage using family photos. These are among my store of mementos from her.

Mary Wilson and her four siblings had moved from Scotland to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the late 1920s, following the failure of the retail business her father had inherited.

The Depression hit soon after their arrival, and my mother Annetta, Mary?s younger sister, told me that everyone had to work as soon as possible.

For the four girls, this meant going to business college to learn secretarial skills. Mary came to Bermuda on holiday with a friend, fell in love with the islands, started her long career with Conyers, Dill and Pearman, and married David Barber.

Had she been born in another era, I believe she would have been an extraordinary lawyer, with her sharp mind, analytical ability, and command of English. She was able to use her legal and business acumen to help David launch his business ventures.

My Aunt Edith visited Mary in Bermuda, also fell in love with Bermuda, and with Bermudian Leon Hayward, who she married. My mother and I briefly lived in Bermuda after the war, and I attended Bermuda High School for Girls, taking the train. What a memorable ride that was, with its dramatic trestle over Flatts Inlet, ending up emerging from the tunnel onto Front Street.

In those days, before cars and motorbikes, the sounds in downtown Hamilton were the clop of horses? hooves and the ?Brrring!? of push bike bells, the toots from ferries and tugs, the wonderful, window-rattling boom of the Queen of Bermuda?s horns when it was leaving port, the yells of fishermen with their catch...The good old days.

Mary and David had a flat in the Somers Building, overlooking the Harbour. There were elegant boutiques like Cecile?s in addition to Trimingham?s and Smith?s. No huge cruise ships disgorging hordes to patronise tee shirt emporia on Front Street. David Barber used to be incensed at the sight of tourists walking the streets in short shorts and, even worse, men with bare chests. When he saw such infractions, he would lean out of the car to admonish them that they were breaking the law.

Of my Aunt Mary?s four siblings, only my mother and my Aunt Edith had children. I was the first, then six years later my cousin Stephen Hayward was born in Bermuda, and two years later, his brother David, in Philadelphia.

Mary and David spoiled us when we were children, and when Steve and I each had a daughter, lavished warm attention on them. When I first visited with my daughter, Caroline, Mary bought a lovely pram for her with a fringed canopy. I was amazed when she took us to the beach, as she never swam and did not enjoy exposure to the sun.

I have pictures of Mary, holding a parasol, wading at Mangrove Bay with Caroline in her inflatible boat. David did not swim, either. He used to say he was too busy, and if he had any free time, preferred golf.

Mary was a stalwart member of the Bermuda Bridge Club for many years, and when my mother and I stayed at Jacaranda, the Barbers? home, we would enjoy lively games of bridge into the wee hours, with my mother and David partnered against Mary and me.

Among the happiest memories were the many family Christmases, when David would don his Santa Claus hat and pass out the presents. Especially as an only child, I am lucky to have been part of this warm, close family, with cousins who are more like brothers, and loving aunts and uncles.

Mary was happiest at home in Jacaranda. Every day, Mary would make David?s lunch: some rolls of boiled ham, lettuce, tomato and radishes, artfully displayed on the plate, and a cup of tea with a biscuit.

My husband marvelled at how Mary could whip up a quick spaghetti dinner. Her secret? Ketchup. She loved gadgets of all kinds: she bought a Waring Blender when it first came on the market, and other items like electric knives and ice cream machines ended up on upper shelves of the kitchen.

Once retired, at David?s urging, they took many cruises, including around the world on the Rotterdam, and Bridge Cruises, where Mary got to play with Goren and Omar Sharif. This was exciting, but Mary said she preferred our sometimes raucous family bridge games in the cosy kitchen at Jacaranda.

These are a few of my thoughts and memories of Mary and David Barber, who adopted Bermuda as their home, played a role in its post-war history, and I miss more than I can say.