Wednesday 29 August 2007

Death of a Colleague

Yesterday, Anne Mordey was laid to rest. She died the morning of 14 August after being diagnosed with cancer just a short time ago.

Anne had been a colleague of mine for nearly 3 years. She was one of VERY few women in the upper echelons of IS management. In the few meetings I have when there is another woman present it tended to be Anne, particularly when I was working in the Service Delivery division of my company. The boys over there tend to be tin and wire nerds that get twitter patted by talk of storage capacity and backup scheduling. I fall asleep during these discussions. Anne would wake me up.

She inspired me to achieve. She was a sharp as a tack and cantankerous to boot. She was unassuming but didn't suffer fools gladly. And she never made you feel like a fool if you didn't know. Only if you didn't try.

She was young, a mere 54, looking at enjoying sailing with her husband in the second half of her life she had worked so hard to enjoy.

I spoke to her quickly passing between our buildings a few months ago. I was in a rush and her mobile was ringing. She said something funny. I laughed and said I'd chat to her later and ran off. The next week she went off sick.

She will be missed. But her memory will continue to inspire.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I worked with Anne for many years at Eastern Electricity; in the beginning she was representing the Business and I was in IT - she was a demanding customer and had worked her way to her position the hard way. Later on, she joined IT and we got on - even though we had a few battles (and she was tough) times were good.

I always wondered how she got on in Centrica - nice to see your tribute.