GEORGE TOWN, March 29 — Although born in Batu Gajah in 1938, Ruth Iversen Rollitt does not live in Malaysia any more but Ipoh will always be in her heart.

The 76-year-old always longed to “come back home” to Malaysia, especially Ipoh, where she spent most of her childhood, where she got married to her first husband and where she gave birth to her first son in Batu Gajah.

She is the daughter of Danish architect, Berthel Michael Iversen, who designed and built many landmark buildings in Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Penang during the almost four decades — between 1928 and 1966 — he was in this country.

Though she has lived in various other countries after marrying British diplomat Philip Rollitt in 1969, she always finds herself drawn back to Malaysia.

She has also made frequent trips to God’s Little Acre cemetery in Batu Gajah where her first husband, Donald Baxter, was buried.

Baxter and his driver were killed during a payroll robbery at the Riverside Rubber Estate just a few weeks after Rollitt gave birth to her son.

Everything in Ipoh evokes warm happy memories of her early life.

Rollitt recently wrote a book on her father, titled Iversen: Architect of Ipoh and Modern Malaya, as a tribute to her father and his architectural achievements in Malaya.

The book, published by Areca Books, was launched last week.

Here, she talks about her love affair with Ipoh, her family and her book.

In her own words: