A Tribute to Brigid Willmore 5 
A Tribute to Brigid Willmore 
Brigid Willmore, the first editorial assistant and then full editor of Journal of 
Social Development in Africa, was a dynamic, progressive and dedicated 
worker - a better choice of person to establish and build up the Journal would 
have been hard to find.Tragically, within months of resigning herpart-timepost 
with the Journal to allow a full-time appointment, Brigid died in a car crash with 
her mother and niece. Her loss will be felt deeply by many organisations to 
whom she contributed her energy and insights in numerous valuable ways, and 
by her many friends. -We join with her family in mourning her untimely death. 
In whatever Brigid undertook she always set herself exceptionally high 
standards of achievement, expected high standards of those around her. She 
appeared a tireless worker, and only after her death did any of us realise with 
quite how many organisations she had been involved with.These included the 
School of Social Work, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Association 
of African Science Editors, and others, as well as assisting those organisations 
and individuals identified below. She was a woman of many talents 
and interests including editing, organisational development and administration, 
finance, AIDS, women's issues, training, social work and other concerns 
of social development. 
Brigid's advice and encouragement to WASN have been vital 
for us, and we are deeply grateful and indebted to her for 
this support. It continues even after her death: we often 
ask ourselves what Brigid would have done in this or that 
situation. Her excellent skills and wisdom in organisation and 
management were invaluable in helping us to sort ourselves out, 
to know what was possible for us to do and what our limitations were. 
Dr S Ray for the Women and AIDS Support Network. 
Brigid was elected to the ZACH Management Committee 
for the maximum period of four consecutive years. She 
showed totally selfless commitment to the needs of 
mission hospitals and clinics. 
MrNyenya, Zimbabwe Association of Church-related Hospitals. 
Brigid was always keen to improve both her and others' 
knowledge of scholarly editing in order to develop high
Journal of Social Development in Africa 
standards in the publication of scholarly research. Those 
of us working in that area already miss her enthusiasm 
for and dedication to these objectives. 
Mr Stringer, University of Zimbabwe Publications. 
An activist, a writer a social worker, a friend... 
these are but a few words that can best describe WAG's 
relationship with Brigid. We miss her expertise and 
interest, her help and advice. 
Ms G Siwelafor the Women's Action Group. 
Brigid was one of those rare individuals who had a clear sense of justice and the 
commitment and courage to pursue it She was not afraid to speak her mind, 
or to expose inadequacies, and she frequently did both.This earned her a 
mixture of respect and apprehension among the individuals and organisations 
with whom she worked: Brigid did not suffer hypocrisy, laziness or sheer incompetence 
lightly. Where she saw these she tackled them head on. Hersaving 
grace, even among those under attack, was that she applied the same rigorous 
standards to herself. She also moved beyond the criticisms, and sustained 
friendship and trust, by helping build individual and organisational skills so that 
the end results were constructive. 
With humour and persistence, Brigid would insist on 
quality and clarity. She would sometimes mock me for 
expressing things too emotionally or loosely, and always 
encouraged me to put more thought into what I wrote. I 
counted Brigid as one of my most valued advisors. 
Mr G Sable, Save the Children, USA. 
Brigid was a very skilled facilitator in meetings in which 
she made most valuable and fearless contributions; I say 
fearless, as she was not to be intimidated by the participants, 
even those holding high positions. Her most recent contribution 
to IMBISA was helping facilitate the study of Inculturation by 
all the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa. 
Fr Ted Rogers for IMBISA. 
Brigid became a pillar of our organisation. " Pillar" is 
the appropriate word. We leaned on her skills, her
A Tribute to Brigid Willmare 7 
strength, her generosity with hersetf. Her conscience, 
consistently tuned, bluntly expressed (often to our 
annoyance), became our moral guidepost. Her vision and 
drive anchored and supported all our efforts. 
Federation of African Media Women, Zimbabwe. 
Brigid will be remembered for her sensitivity to other 
people's needs and was known for her reflections. After 
a controversial encounter, she would always come into 
the office or telephone to check how the other half 
survived the encounter, and to try to empathise with the 
colleagues At ACT she was affectionately called 
"Auntie Brigid" by the staff. 
Mrs E Matengafor the AIDS Counselling Trust. 
Sometimes it was pure torture to work with Brigid in 
planning a workshop because she would not settle for any 
short cuts. Sometimes these workshops were very 
sensitive or the participants were very difficult, ie they 
felt they knew it all However, because ofBrigid's 
skills the participants always expressed great 
satisfaction at the end of the workshop, and the 
facilitators heaved a sigh of relief. 
Mr C Wakatamafor the Catholic Development Commission. 
Sadly the very demanding standards Brigid set herself exacted their toll. During 
the last few years of her life she gave so much of herself to projects, 
organisations and individuals that she had too little space for her own personal 
needs and her own affairs. In 1991 she became increasingly burnt out, to the 
extent of making a resolution towards the end of the year to withdraw from 
certain commitments. This she found very difficult to do, as she was aware of 
being needed by many groups and was reluctant to let anyone down. She also 
had a healthy curiosity and interest in many organisations and issues, and 
actively wanted to be part of them. Yet she had begun to disengage and 
reorientate herself, for instance withdrawing from an organisation she had 
helped to found, the AIDS Counselling Trust, the complex organisational and 
financial affairs of which demanded ever increasing inputs. Yet she made it 
clear that she would still be available for consultation when needed.
8 Journal af Social Development in Africa 
Brigid was one of the few people whom one could phone at almost any 
hour - at least until midnight - in the certainty that she would be awake. 
Typically she sat at her desk with her computer and telephone and, in her own 
idiosyncratic style, the television on. Somehow she concentrated on her work, 
and was highly productive, and watched movies at the same time. 
One of the many lessons Brigid's friends and colleagues may learn from 
her life and death is the need to balance hard work and dedication with space 
forself-renewal. Life may be far shorter than any of us expect. As a close friend 
of Brigid's I feel very sad that she did not achieve this realisation earlier, and 
manage to have more enjoyment from life in recent years. She was a vibrant 
person, able to live life to the full, and yet her typical response over the last year 
or two to the question "How are you?" was "I'm drowning". She was fiercely 
resistant to direct offers of help, but talked a number of times about the intense 
stress she was under, and the need to let go of certain areas of work. She 
wondered, as do many of us, where the years were going. 
Although Brigid has gone, as Frances Chinemana, one of her closest 
friends, observed in her farewell address at Brigid's funeral: 
What a legacy this full and busy life has left us. Brigid's example will 
live on, in the written word, in her books and reports. It will live on in 
the mark she made on so many organisations. It will live on in the 
hearts of her family and friends, who learnt so much from her, and 
were so privileged to have their lives touched by hers. 
We were by no means ready to see her go, and she... was by no means 
ready to give up the cause she committed herself to. But she is at 
peace now, and she can rest after all that hard work and endless giving 
of herself. Let us learn from her proud example what real open 
heartedness means, the true worth of determination and tenacity.... 
We shall never forget her. 
The final words are from Mashambanzou: 
We mourn for Brigid, the genius, wisdom and wit that died; 
The learning and the laughter that are lost by her going; 
Her incisive brain that disentangled the mess of our 
Constitution and Trust documents; 
Brigid was like a candle that shone from the darkness, and in
A Tribute to Brigid WUImore 
her light we knew what goodness was. 
Sr Noreen and Sr Margaret for Mashambanzou Trust. 
Helen Jackson, Director of Research, School of Social Work,