In the company of an Ambassador so lovable and kind

James W. Spain

Speech made by Nihal C.I. De Silva, at the memorial service at St. Andrew’s Scots Kirk, Galle Face, Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 11.

It was sometime in 1985 that the American Ambassador John Hathaway Reed informed me that he would be leaving shortly and his successor would be one Jim Spain who would be here alone as he had lost his wife and only daughter, and that I should visit him. He said that he had listed me in his inventory as a ‘must meet’ person.

I phoned through to Jefferson House and was informed by his youngest son Bill that he would be in only later that month. I visited Jefferson House the very day he arrived and met with Jim Spain and his son Bill, and what was to be a brief chat turned out into a nightmare, a few hours of question time or shall I say, interrogation. Jim wanted to know everything about Sri Lanka, that very evening. That was Jim Spain. He did not want to tread on anyone's toes. I told him that we are yet, very colonial, in style in many ways. "Yes Sir, No Sir" to bosses and high ranking officials etc, etc. Finally, he said he had two more questions for that day.

"Do Sri Lankans go hunting, if so what do they hunt? Do you play tennis?" Many are the weekend hunts that we went on together in the plantation, I managed at Hewaheta in the Nuwara Eliya district (Hope Group), and many a successful night as well as many an unsuccessful night. In later years after retirement, I introduced Jim to a few of my planting buddies who were keen hunters and (volunteer) Army officers who had served with me in active duties as Platoon Commanders, and many are the occasions we have gone on hunts with my friends Sarath de Soysa (Army), Romnie Gunaratne, Neomal Basnayake (B.I.L), and Errol Arnolda (Army). Jim once asked my nephew, Sumithra, who was MD at Elephant House to try to cure a leg of wild boar and it turned out to be a great success. Many were the diplomats and friends who were treated to, or demanded wild boar ham sandwiches when they visited Jim.

Jim, as much as he was a keen hunter was also a keen tennis player and played the game not only for the sake of exercise but also with the intent of winning. He was always partnered by me and many are the times I have heard him, muttering to himself, referring to God. I thought that he was praying to the good Lord, for a victory, instead when I got close to him it went like, "God damnit Spain" or "Nihal, you cover the net and I will cover the baseline". (Easier said than done, where I was concerned).We had enjoyable times on the court with Hans Monheimius, Ambasadors Marrion V. Creekmoore, Syed El Ban Hawy, Tonia Shand and John Field to name a few, from memory and amongst the Sri Lankan community, my brother Lakshman, Surendra Seneviratne, nephew Rohantha Athukorala, Asoka de Silva and R.L. Anthony Perera.

Ambassador Spain had another first in addition to wild boar ham, he was the first and perhaps the only US Ambasador in history to go on a joint hunt with the Iraqi Ambassador, organized by me. To put it mildly, they were not at loggerheads then. I am talking about the late 1980's, yet for all, nor were these countries, on the best of terms. I will elucidate a little more, to put the record straight; Jim was then retired US Ambassador. When I broached the topic that the Iraqi Ambassador too had made a request to join us, Jim replied saying, "Nihal I am not inviting him, you are the host, as long as he does not come into my sight, I will have no problem.” What humour!

Come Sunday afternoon and one would see Jim at the famous Colombo Club. He had a luncheon date each Sunday with the world famous science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke and mutual friend Hans Monheimus, until the very end. He was kind and considerate to folks in trouble, he was a close friend of the famous "Podi Hamuduruwo" as he would refer to him. Very many are the charities he contributed to. He was a very generous soul.

On one occasion I told Jim that I would speak to his landlord to get the entrance corridor colour washed, as Jim kept an impeccable house. Jim told me that he had found a solution to this problem by inviting President J.R. Jayewardene to dinner and mildly informed the building administrator about it and presto, the following day all hell broke loose and both corridors were painted and looking spic and span when the President visited Jim.

Each year on his birthday, the 22nd of July, our family together with Mrs. Christobel Weerasinghe (her late husband was our Ambassador in Washington many years ago); would take a Chinese dinner and share it with Jim at his residence and sing Happy Birthday over a cake with one candle. Each year on Christmas Day he would join our family for luncheon when not invited elsewhere and we would drop by on the 25th evening each year with gifts for Jim and he in turn would have exclusive, personalized gifts for each one of us, gift wrapped by the Smithsonian Institute or Maceys or some such special department store in the US, costing several hundreds of dollars.

He cared for his four domestics to the very end and provided for them on his departure. I was also Interpreter Mudaliyar to him as he did not speak Tamil nor Sinhala. I could go on and on, 21 long years down memory lane in the company of Jim Spain but space precludes me from doing so.

May the turf lie soft on Jim and may eternal light shine upon him. Requiescat in pace.