Margaret Dias

Fragrant memory of a beloved matron

Margaret Dias

The wilted flowers in the vase outside the principal’s room bear testimony to the fact that the loving hands that replenished these flowers daily are stilled for ever.

When Margaret Dias walked through the gates of Bishop’s College in 1957 as a damsel of 18, she would little have known that the school would be her home for the next 51 years, and that she would one day be custodian of the hundreds of children who passed through the junior boarding school. To them she was always “Miz Dias”.Asked for their impressions of the late Miss Dias, boarders and non-boarders were unanimous in their compliments. They described her thus:
“She always wore a smile”;“She never complained”;“She went out of her way to help others”;“She never indulged in self-pity”, and, above all, “She loved the nurturing of flowers.”
The first person we would see as we arrived at school in the mornings was Miss Dias. Even in retirement, she could not resist the call of her “home away from home”. She would come each morning and beautifully arrange the flowers in the school chapel and the vase outside the principal’s office. She would then sit outside and greet the arriving schoolchildren with her benign smile.

We will sorely miss you, Miz Dias. We know that the loveliest of flowers will bloom wherever you are.

Priyanthie de Silva