Tower and Town, September 2022 (view the full edition)Family News"Sail forth - steer for deep waters only". Walt Whitman could have written these words specifically to epitomise Vicky Sullivan, who died peacefully on Monday August 1st at Savernake View care home. She had no fear of "launch[ing] out on trackless seas", not least when it came to facing her own death, for which her strong Christian faith gave her great serenity. Vicky hailed from Nottingham but spent much of her adult life here in Marlborough. She was well-known as an influential member of the community, running her own insurance business in Swindon and being a prominent member of Marlborough Golf Club. She was married to John, one-time captain of the club, and later nursed him through long years of illness. When she finally lost him, she threw herself into voluntary work in the community. She is perhaps best known in these latter years for her bold and outspoken leadership of the Marlborough and District LINK Scheme and for resurrecting the Marlborough WI. The secret of Vicky's greatness was that she believed in people and was committed to encouraging them to fly when most are pretty contented just to walk. She was a particular champion of women and as President of the Marlborough WI she set herself to make everyone a speaker. If that took using a roving microphone, then she got in a roving microphone and made certain the quieter voices were properly heard. Such was her commitment to the Marlborough community that her name was put forward for a national honour; sadly, she died before that could happen. Jessy Pomfret |