LA CALA DEL MORAL
The Junta de Andalucía accepted the inheritance which will be managed by the regional council's environment department
26.02.09 - 12:54 -
Victoria is the neighbour who contacted the police because she hadn't seen Annette for days. / E. GUZMÁN
Annette Sonia Stock had lived beside the beach in La Cala del Moral for more than 20 years. She was British, over 90 years old, a journalist and contributed to several publications in her country. But little more was known about the woman who died alone on February 5th and left everything she had for the improvement and conservation of the Doñana National Park in Huelva.
Yesterday the Junta de Andalucía accepted the inheritance which will be managed by the regional council's environment department. Annette left behind her flat in in the La Palmeras building in Calle Salvador Rueda in La Cala del Moral, an undisclosed figure in a bank account and a book collection.
A bit unsociable
"She was very alone since her husband died years ago. Actually his ashes were the first to be scattered in the sea in La Cala," remembered Victoria Puig who was a neighbour of Annette's since the couple moved into the building which is situated beside the beach. Victoria says that Annette was a bit unsociable. "Although she didn't have any children and friends came to see her only occasionally, she hadn't even left a key with the president of the community," explained Victoria before adding that when she and her daughter tried to help Annette take her shopping upstairs their help was never accepted.
"She went out to buy the paper very early every morning and then she would shut herself up in her house. She put the canopy down and you could hear that she was working on her typewriter for hours," continued Victoria. "She was a very old lady. She came nearly every day and always bought the Daily Telegraph and a foreign magazine, but she didn't speak Spanish, therefore she wasn't close to anybody," said Rosa García who used to have the paper shop in La Cala del Moral.
"I was worried that she was so alone and I always thought that she would die and without anybody knowing, which is exactly what happened," said Annette's neighbour. And it was Victoria and the president of the community, who are just about the only ones who live in the building all year round, that noticed that Annette's mailbox was overflowing. "I thought that something was up because I hadn't seen her for a few days and I hadn't heard any noise from her flat which is directly above mine," said Victoria. In the end Victoria called the police and when the fire fighters burst down the door they found Annette dead next to the kitchen.
Surprise
For some it was unimaginable that the British lady would leave her worldly goods to Doñana Park. "A lawyer who came after her death to sort out some papers told us, but we had no idea because she didn't tell anyone anything."
What the neighbours do know about Annette Sonia Stock though is that she loved the sea. "They say that for years she sailed all over the world with her husband and that their favourite coast was that between Nerja and Malaga so that's why they bought a flat in Rincón de la Victoria."
