We sadly acknowledge the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Maureen Bickley.We are comforted by the memories of her sharp intelligence, her unending quest for knowledge and truth, and her indomitable spirit.
We will miss you, Maureen.
We invite you to use this space to share a memory, leave a comment or simply sit in contemplation of one of the wisest women we will ever know.
21 comments:
I will treasure my memories of Maureen as a dear friend and colleague who had a formative influence on the directions that my career and research have taken. I feel an overwhelming indebtedness to her and a deep gratitude that I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to work alongside her. I will miss Maureen for many, many reasons but she will always remain an inspiration to approach work and life with intelligence, energy and commitment. What a wonderful woman.
A side of Maureen that stands out in my memory is her generosity - not only of spirit but also of her increasingly valuable time. She always took time out to ensure that I was given the full background to whatever we were engaged on. When I would come to her and ask her a question, she would stop whatever she was doing, sit me down and proceed to give me my own personal lesson to ensure that I fully understood the background. Her enthusiasm, her warmth, her cheery sense of humour will never be forgotten.
Evan
I am so grateful to have known Maureen over the last 14 years. The list of her admirable traits is long and includes strengths and qualities like passion, razor-sharp intellect, generosity of spirit, strength, courage, joie de vivre, fairness, natural leadership and warmth. She was an inspiration as a boss and mentor and as a friend. Her time here was sadly short but her enthusiasm and indomitable spirit meant that she lived a quality of life most of us only aspire to. My life is fuller for having known her and she will be greatly missed. I imagine she is currently elsewhere cheerily organising the troops with a white board and a couple of spreadsheets. Go Maureen!
Although I only met Maureen less than a dozen times in person, as we interacted mainly through email, she still loomed so largely in my life at Curtin. I am privileged to work with some of her closest friends and through their love and admiration of Maureen I have an impression of her as a strong, resilient and brave person. This was reinforced by my too few encounters with her.
Maureen seemed to me to be the type of person who would pull you up and along with her, bolstering you with words of encouragement and acts of generosity - she seemed so confident in her stride and her banter and had the rarest of rare capacities to speak to anyone as an equal, despite her amazing intellect. She seemed to live life in capital letters - her vibrancy was palpable. I will miss her spirit and will always envy her intimate knowledge of the English language.
I am sorry I did not know you better, Maureen. You were always someone I was in awe of (and you'd be the first to point out - in a instructive yet friendly way that I'd ended that sentence with a preposition!).
My condolences to Sue and the rest of Maureen's family and friends - we have all gained so much by knowing her.
I have only know her for a brief 4 years, however, Maureen truly inspired me, her wisdom, humor and strength has guided me through these years.
She once gave me some heart felt advice that I will always remember and these words of wisdom will always remind me of her.
My sincere condolences to Sue and Maureen's family and friends. Her personality, humor and vibrant hair colours will never be forgotten.
KLee
Dear Maureen. Words can not express the loss we are all experiencing. You were an amazing woman, undoubtedly one of the smartest I’ve ever known. I know you had a real commitment to sharing your intellect and helping others realise their potential. You were a fantastic mentor and inspiration to myself and many others and your ideas and teachings will live on through the thousands you will have influenced. I feel enormously privileged to have met and worked with you and, like others, I just wished there could have been more time. I loved everything about you Maureen, in particular your rebellious spirit, your wit, confidence and passion for improvement. You were a remarkable woman and will live on in our practice and our memories.
Sincere Condolences to Maureen and Sue's families. It was a pleasure to have known Maureen. RIP. Sheila Alley
Maureen, you never passed me by without saying a cheery 'hello'. We had some wonderful discussions and we were always right! I was in awe of your guts and determination and I loved your intellect, your wonderful sense of fun. You touched so many lives, Maureen and I'm so glad that you touched mine. I will miss seeing that flash of red hair dashing around the corner. Gail
I met Maureen only a few times, but was entranced by her energy and concern. She had enormous courage. She really did want to make a difference for her students and I believe she did. A great loss for Curtin, the GSB and sadly for her family. Condolences to Sue
I will always remember Maureen for answering my queries promptly and giving background information as well, her detail for accuracy and thinking ahead, her strength and vibrant hair colour, just to name a few.
When we had Ballroom dancing lessons Maureen was the best partner you could get! Reality has not yet set in that she will not be coming in through the office with her calming presence and positive vibes. Maureen will be greatly missed.
Love to Sue, Fiona and family
Our dear Maureen, a collegial colleague, mentor and dear friend – you are profoundly missed. L
Words know no bound how much you’ve touched us with your inspiring intellect and tenacity. Maureen, we’ll remember you for your witty humor, warmth and generosity in sharing. And I’ll always take pleasure in appreciating your moral support throughout my PhD journey & etc… Maureen, you’d even autographed my thesis under ‘auditors report (qualitative research)’. We’ve now lost a remarkable member of the GSB ‘clan’. It has been a privilege to have worked with our much cherished Maureen. My sincere condolence to Sue and the family.
Fond memories.
Anna
In memory of dearest Maureen, one of the most vital and vibrant women I have ever met. Maureen's optimisim and joy in life was infectious. Her insightful wisdom on so many levels - intellectual, political, personal and practical - I will treasure always. Much love to Sue and Maureen's family
Sincere condolences to Maureen's colleagues friends and family. Her energy, intelligence and humour made her an aquanitance to treasure.
Helen Marshall, RMIT Vic.
To Sue
Our thoughts are with you at this very sad time. Maureen will be missed so much. Take care.
Love from
Barb, Julie and Ro
Maureen as a mentor and role model you have helped me to achieve more than I ever dreamed was possible. As a friend I have enjoyed wonderful times with you and Sue over the years including our most recent personal training adventures! As a colleague here at the GSB I have loved working with you and have learnt so much about teaching and research by watching you and through your willingness always to share your thoughts and ideas. I will miss your love of life, your passion to make the world a better place and your wisdom and insight.
Thankyou for being such an important part of my life.
From the day we met, Maureen has brightened my life. I stand absolutely awed by the grace and humour she showed throughout her illness. Maureen's strength of character found a place in my heart and she will never leave it. I just need to think of that lovely smile, sometimes sharing an irony, and she is right here. So many people have said this so well but Maureen it was a privilege to be a small part of your life. With such a spirit you must be up there somewhere a little frustrated because you are not visible. But Maureen, you will always be visible to me in pensive moments.
To Sue and the family, we are united in our sorrow.
with love
Alma
Maureen,I remember the day, as yesterday, when I was thinking of taking my first tentative career step; I expressed some misgivings and you said 'you can do it, go for it'. Throughout the following years you have been my mentor and support and your wise counsel has been invaluable in my working life.
But our friendship had another wonderful dimension. With Sue and Ian we used to laughingly call ourselves the mixed doubles from our regular Saturday tennis games behind Haldane Street. Afterwards we shared scratch meals and the red wine flowed fairly freely. Those times gave me (us) the opportunity to get to know Keiran, Fiona and Naomi as youngsters;We are thinking of them now. On those evenings we laughed,we debated fiercely, we shared fears and hopes; and later we sometimes cried.
The tennis and the wine flowed a little less after the cancer, at least for you, but the fellowship continued and we have shared some marvellous times at Dwellingup and Denmark and Salisbury St.
Thankyou for all those wonderful times and the inspiration your strength and courage have given me. You will never be far from my thoughts.
Love
Margaret
Maureen was an amazing woman, a woman of great spirit and razor-sharp intelligence, truly inspirational, warm and compassionate. She was the kind of person who always said what she thought – and had the gift of making things sharp and funny. I had the privilege of having Maureen as my unit controller as I started teaching the online unit of Organisational Behaviour in 2005 to the group of New Zealand students. She was incredibly supportive and flexible in her approach, helpful without sinking my enthusiasm, gentle, encouraging and caring. She also loved to laugh and joke, and I remember walking out of our meetings with a wide smile, a sense of accomplishment and feeling uplifted. Maureen was a wonderful woman with a great zest for life, and I will always remember her smiling.
My sincere condolences to Sue and Maureen’s family and friends. Maureen’s vibrancy, humour, intelligence and generosity will always be missed!
To Sue
Heartfelt condolences at this sad time in your life.
Regards
Seema
I met Maureen while undertaking a six day intensive MBA unit. She was truly an inspirational person who was caring, enthusiastic, fun and extremely professional in her dealings. She left an impression on many of us and lecturers like Maureen are truly rare. She will be missed.
It is with deep sadness but enormous gratitude, respect and admiration that I leave this message. I was lucky enough to be in one of Maureen’s units in late 2006. I also met with her on a number of occasions following the completion of the unit. Her good nature, humor and passion along with her unyielding sprit was an inspiration. Maureen will be sadly missed.
To Maureen’s family, please accept my sincere condolences to during this difficult time.
Quentin
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