We were deeply shocked and saddened to hear of Angela’s passing on the news last week. Our thoughts and sympathies are with her family at this time. Deen and I first met Angela, John and Devanand in the late 1980s when Angela was working for CARICOM in Guyana. The three children of our friendly neighbours, the Rijckens, went to school with Dev. We looked on all 4 as surrogate children since our own were away studying. We had many happy times together. We especially remember spending Christmas at the guesthouse of the Lama Conservancy with the Croppers and the Rijckens. We brought our Christmas dinner and spent the night. The children swam in the Conservancy despite the piranhas. Later after John and Angela had left Guyana, we spent a week with them in Rolle, Switzerland. While Angela was at work at IUCN, John and Dev showed us as much of the beautiful countryside as possible. Being Chairperson of Iwokrama brought Angela, and sometimes John, back to Guyana round the time of the Millennium. I had a wonderful trip to Iwokrama with John, Angela and David Cassels in 2000. The road was very bad then but we made it through the giant puddles. One of the highlights of the visit for me was a flight in a Brazilian police helicopter round Turtle Mountain. From then on I knew I would return as often as possible. Not so long after that I had a very sad trip to Trinidad to attend the funerals of John, Maggie and Mattie. Angela impressed me so much with her fortitude. She stayed with us several times after that when in Georgetown. On one occasion we were flooded but she was not at all fazed – just took off her shoes and paddled through the water. Since then we have followed her career with awe. And now she is at rest, well deserved. Let us hope that the many she has inspired will carry on the good work.