MONICA FAIRALL : Fairwell to the Fairest

Monica Fairall
(Photo : The Witness)

Everybody knew Monica Fairall. There was a time, when she was one of South Africa’s most celebrated Miss South Africas, and every young man in the nation would’ve given his heart and everything else he possessed to know her. But Monica was much more than that, she was an intellectual, a great journalist, a creative genius and a beautiful person, all wrapped up in one.

Just two years ago, she married for the first time at Hartford House, and the sad thing about it all, is that so soon after finding the bliss only great marriages delivered, she’s passed on. There’ve been many newspaper tributes paid to Monica’s life, and in all of them we’ve been reminded of the photographs of her wedding which we were so privileged to host. We were lucky to know her, as so many were, and our thoughts are with her husband Professor Robert Morrell, at this sad time.

Thank heavens Rob came along. On her own version, he gave Monica a dimension to her life that she’d never had, much like she did for so many of us.