In Memory of Marya Repko

There were only two of us, and Marya was five years my senior. It wasn’t until she moved to England in the 60s that I missed her. After a few years working for Cambridge University Press, she married and moved to the Netherlands, where she started her own computer programming business. After another ten years she moved her business to Dublin, and that is when I began to visit her regularly. By this time she was a personality – a confident, admired, successful businesswoman – a rarity in the Dublin of the 1980’s.

She owned a small but attractive house on a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. She would send me tickets to come and visit, then lend me a car to explore the old world towns of ancient Ireland. Then she would take me to point-to-point horse racing meets where she would stand by the points with her camera as the long-legged horses carried their jockeys high in the air and the thunder of hooves of a dozen horses was exhilarating.

By the late 90s, she was single again and ready to retire. She acquired a little condo on Sanibel Island – which she loaned to me and my new bride, Paula, for our honeymoon. On one of her forays, she discovered Everglades City, and that is where her friendships with all of you began. I still admire her energy and interest in local history and the books she produced – an interest that we share. When she became so ill last year, Paula and I flew to Florida from Connecticut at least once a month to help look after her until her indomitable energy no longer sustained her. She is now at peace, and I love her more than ever.

Donations may be made to the Marya Repko Historical Library fund and mailed to ESHP, PO Box 46, Everglades City, FL 34139.