In the 1970s Lady Maya Singh remained unaffected by the limelight of being married to her active political husband, Sir Vijay Singh, the first Indo-Fijian to receive the accolade — Knight Commander of the British Empire.
Her story was reported in The Fiji Times on Saturday, November 19, 1977.
“Of course, when the award was announced it gave us tremendous joy.
“But I accepted it with humility and did not feel any different, carried on working even though many people suspected that I would leave my job” she said.
Actually, Lady Singh never thought of quitting her secretarial job at Fiji Air. She enjoyed working. “It keeps me occupied and interested. Otherwise I would be lost,” she said.
In 1979, the Singhs went to London especially for the investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace. For Lady Singh, it was a deeply emotional occasion, watching her husband being knighted by the Queen.
“It was a touching experience,” she said. Lady Singh married in 1957 at the age of 18.
“I had just gotten out of stenography school and had worked for only a couple of months,” she said.
In 1977, Sir Vijay and Lady Singh had two children, a son who was studying in India for a degree in commerce and a daughter at Suva Grammar School.
At home, Lady Singh was a flower and garden enthusiast.
