Her name is Natércia Costa. She is 67 years old, 32 of which were spent working “in this house”. The first ten were in the Neurosurgery Centre at the Júlio de Matos Hospital and the remaining 22 were spent within these four walls.

She started her career as a telephone operator until she started to work on the Board of Directors, where she “learned a great deal”. She worked with Professor Fernando de Pádua, “he always carried a tape recorder which he would later give me for transcribing, at the time I still used a typewriter”. She also worked with Professor Mário Lopes.

“Ms. Gina Xavier, who was then the Chief Accountant, later invited me to work with her. That’s when I came to Heritage.”

These 32 years were spent following the changes that occurred here. “I started working with a typewriter and then we evolved to computers, which is what we have today”, she recalls.

When we asked about her strongest memory, she answered without hesitation that it was the respect and the help she received from all of those who worked with her. She dealt with many people, both teachers and non-teachers, all of them different, and said that the trick is “to know one’s place”.

Now it’s time to go back to the land where she was born, Valpaços, in Trás-Os-Montes, where her husband owns a company. “I have spent all these years running back and forth between here and there”, she says. “On the weekends either I go there or my husband comes here, and now, finally we are going to be together every day. I have a lot to look forward to there, like my garden and my flowers, and I also have time to read, it will be good!”
“I dealt with a lot of people, but as I say, I’ve always felt well treated!” It was a very positive experience!”

Farewell party of Natércia, March 30, 2018

The Editorial Team