Barbara DAWSON

Dear Sarah, Ana, Ras: There are no words to tell you how much your Mum meant to me. We were close at high school; I went on VSA in '64, she went in '65. Just heard of her passing; didn't know she was even sick. She enriched so many lives, including mine.

Barbara played an influential role in my teenage years, when I followed in her footsteps as a school leaver volunteer with VSA in Falealili in 1966. I taught the class she had taught in 1965, and valued this shared experience. May she rest in peace after a rich and varied life, shared with so many others in NZ, Samoa, Vietnam and elsewhere.

So Sorry to hear Ana, Glenn and Family, our thoughts are with you

Dear Sara, Ana, Ras and family.. I am deeply saddened by the loss of your mum Barbara. She shaped my life in a big way and I have often thought of her over the past few years. She was an extraordinary woman, someone I admired greatly. I have many fond memories of her during my time in Vietnam, from jumping on the back of her rumbling motorbike and heading for a dawn swim and coffee on the beach to sipping on the local brew and playing backgammon at sunset. Gosh now the memories come flooding...