To Maureen’s family. I, Fons, met Maureen for the first time in 1983 in Venezuela when she, as a biostratigrapher, was trying to make sense out of a large collection of crates with geochemical instrumentation, having to set up the geochem lab at INTEVEP in Caracas. I am sure she succeeded but I did not hang around long enough to admire the probably brazen way she went about it. The next time was 23 years later, when we both worked for Geoglobal on projects in India. When I arrived in India, my luggage was delayed and Maureen and I went to pick it up a day later from a local transportation company. After endless discussions with the owner, it came down to a request for a substantial bribe, even though the airline company had paid for everything. Maureen made it very clear to him that we would not pay and so we entered a stalemate. I asked Maureen to get our driver and car to the ramp of the warehouse and with a twinkle in her eyes she dashed of, enjoying the thought that we were going to beat the guy. When the car was in place, I simply grabbed my luggage, jumped in the car and we dashed off. I never heared her laugh so loud.
Maureen was fun to work with and I will certainly miss her mischievous smile.
Our deepest sympathy to all of you.
Fons and Tonie Dekker
