Corinne WILLOCK

CORINNE WILLOCK (1932-2020) Corinne Willock was born in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Countess Vera P. Dukes Teleki and Paul Dukes. She was educated in Austria and Hungary and studied at the Vienna Academy of Music before immigrating to Canada in 1953. From 1954-1956 she studied voice at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and worked as a costume designer for the Canadian Opera Company. An artist, ethnologist and environmentalist, Corinne was fluent in English, German and Hungarian. She lived in Europe, the Americas and Africa, seeking to absorb the arts, crafts and culture of the peoples she encountered. She pursued many causes, often exhausting her own savings to help others. In 2005 Corinne moved to Antigua and later Coban, Guatemala where she founded the NGO ChocoGuateMaya, whose goal was to establish community-based cacao operations for the highland Maya. In recognition of her work, the Guatemalan Orchid Authority named a new endangered species in her honour Masdevallia corinnea. Revered by the communities she worked with, in 2018 she returned to Antigua due to health concerns and died on October 1st . She will be greatly missed by her three children Corinne (Indi) Miskolczi (Ontario), Vera Richardson (USA) and David Miskolczi (Alberta); her siblings Dr. Peter P. Dukes (Los Angeles), Herbert P. Dukes and Geza C. Teleki (Toronto), Vera Teleki DeBlasis (Nashville), Agnes Akantisz (Vienna); brothers Karoly and Samuel Teleki predeceased her by several years. As one colleague wrote "she was anything but conventional, extraordinary in so many ways and made a difference for the better".