May Mundt a Biography

ESMA (MAY) MUNDT – AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

(Four generations…of a family)

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall – Confucius.

Prologue – A First Meeting

“We spoke of many things / Fools and kings”

Today, on the 22 nd of March 2023, at precisely 10.20 am, I met a force of nature. I met Esma (May) Mundt. All 98 years of her! Speaking to May, left me with a feeling of positivity and joy. If this was what 98 was like, give me old age. May was clear and precise and unfailing in her memory and yet she was also not needlessly positive. She spoke about the ups and downs of her life, and “while we spoke of many things / Fools and Kings”, she said this to me, “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn / Is to just love and be loved in return”; to borrow from that greatest of all crooners, Nat King Cole. May was fully aware of what life had been like for her. Was it the word “Alcatraz” that she mischievously coined in one of her many poems, to describe her stay at OZ Care? But only in jest! She told me that she appreciates the people who care for her, the cleaners, the nurses, the administrators, the cooks, everyone. She

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