West End letters: Shara Fryer | Ian Wilder obituary | Houston Texas | Glenys Roberts | affection

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 14 August 2009

Ian’s indomitable spirit and vision for future

COUNCILLOR Ian Wilder (Obituary, July 31) never stopped being the champion of the West End and the people of his ward.
He extolled and promoted endlessly and developed great bonds between his friends here in Houston, Texas and those in Westminster.
Though his disease was cruel, he never stopped working and thinking and plotting. We watched in awe as he wielded telephone and internet to fulfil his duties and to persuade others to follow his vision for a better society. We likened him to a “force of nature”, as his spirit was indomitable throughout debilitating medical treatment.
Ian impressed everyone he met with his passionate grasp of history, his belief that individuals can change the world, and his insistence that we follow him in trying. His humour and wit and profound sense of justice seemed particularly British to us, and engendered a great affection from here across the Atlantic to all of you.
We mourn his passing as that of an exceptional human being, a mutual friend, and devoted public servant.
As Glenys Roberts so truly observed, “To Ian, only the impossible was worth doing and he sometimes achieved it.”
It’s a torch we can only aspire to pick up, but as Ian would say, “we must”.
Shara Fryer
Houston, Texas

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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