The surname of late Robertson resident Dyan Verity was well suited.
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The name Verity, by definition from the Oxford Dictionary (from latin veritas, truth) means truth, conformity to fact or reality. Never a name fitted better.
Dyan Verity was her own authentic person. She was larger than life, though never grotesque.
She had a privileged private education, but never traded on it.
Rather she used her gifts to benefit many less fortunate. She was no wowser nor snob.
Dy soaked in her four year immersion in Greece, learning the language and culture and sharing it with tourists and visitors. Having a good time the while.
As another Greek Island dweller like Zorba she lived according to his spirit of life. “Life is trouble only death is not. Open your belt and look for it” and “You are a good person but you lack one thing; a little madness, without which a person never cuts the bonds and remain free.”
Dy was often shocking, especially to those who were shock prone.
That shock might be in an authentic response, which was unconventional.
It could be amusing. It could be enlightening.
It could also be reassuring that there was not only one way of seeing the world. It could be a learning experience.
They say ‘uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’ but Dy wore her tiara comfortably enjoying her own unseriousness.
As a youth of the 60s she enjoyed the balmy incense of that era.
Dyan’s obvious largeness and loudness was not all there was.
Her affection and warmth embraced and comforted adults, children and animals.
And if you listened at her funeral to those who knew her intimately she had her own deep seated vulnerabilities.
The vulnerable Dy managed her uncertainties just below her courage to be happy.
Dy will never have an exact replacement in Robertson. That is the loss we mourn and where we link with her family in sadness.
Though we will remain the bit of Dy which rubbed off on those who met her. We can be thankful that we have experienced her presence which was inspiring for each of us to be who we genuinely are.
Dyan Verity was born on July 5, 1942 and passed away on August 21, 2018.
