Sybil Flory (née LeFleur; 8 April 1920 – 2 September 2017) was a pharmacist, seamstress and teacher. She was born in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

to a Burmese mother and a French father. Her mother died in childbirth. The sisters had grown up with an elder brother and sister in a middle-class home in

Syriam Thanlyin (; or ; mnw, သေၚ်, ; formerly Syriam) is a major port city of Myanmar, located across Bago River from the city of Yangon. Thanlyin Township comprises 17 quarters and 28 village tracts. It is home to the largest port in the cou ...

. They were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Sybil LeFleur had been a primary school teacher and a seamstress at Rangoon's renowned department store Rowe & Co. She was separated from her sister in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military governme ...

on the date the Japanese attacked (23 December 1941). By that time their father had also died. The father of her best friend Bertha, who was a silk merchant, told Sybil there was no way they could return to Rangoon or look for her family. She fled with her friend's family. By August 1943 she had married a hospital pharmacist, soldier Reid Flory from Scotland. The couple had four children. She arrived in Scotland in February 1946 at

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

and moved into the family home in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Her husband was the last

Provost Provost may refer to: People * Provost (name), a surname Officials Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent of a mayor in Scotland * Lord provost, the equivalent of a lord mayor in Scotland Militar ...

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settleme ...

. She became President of the

Townswomen's Guild Members representing their Federation at the 2009 AGM in Birmingham The Townswomen's Guild (TG) is a British women's organisation. There are approximately 30,000 members, 706 branches and 77 Federations throughout England, Scotland, Wales an ...

and remained a devout Catholic all her life and a member of St Margaret's Church, Huntly. She was re-united with her sister, Blanche, after 66 years in Calcutta in October 2007, when Sybil was 87 and Blanche was 85. Their elder siblings were both deceased by that point. Their story was told in the book ''Torn Apart''.

Death

Sybil Flory died on 2 September 2017 in

, aged 97. She was predeceased by her husband and her elder son, and survived by her three other children and extended family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flory, Sybil 1920 births 2017 deaths Burmese educators People from Yangon People from Huntly Burmese emigrants to the United Kingdom Burmese Roman Catholics Scottish Roman Catholics British people of Burmese descent British people of French descent