Appreciations
View(s):Mel Gunasekera
A loving tribute to a beloved cousin
The painful memory of that horrible day – February 2, 2014, the darkest day in the lives of our family has dawned again. We are forced to relive that gruesome day, when you left us all in a matter of 20 minutes. To me your eldest cousin and all of us in the Malawana / Gunasekera family this day will haunt us for the rest of our lives.
On a personal note, to me February 1, – St. Bridget’s Day, will now always be a painful day. This year it will be especially painful and emotional for me, as the School day celebrations, Holy Mass, and the March Past won’t be held in the hockey field as in past years, but in the Primary School grounds beside the Montessori which is the very place you spent your final hours in this world.
The School Choir (of which you were also once a member when in school) will be co-incidentally in the place, in the Primary grounds to sing for the Mass, where ironically you stood for the last time chatting to me, and your friends, classmates and your teachers on your last day on earth.
God planned and destined that you came personally to say goodbye to St. Bridget’s on her feast day and to all those you loved.
Recalling our close bond during your childhood and my early teen years at Nawala. I remember how you sat on my lap in the school bus, with your baby chatter in heavy British accent (acquired from your play school in the UK) without a care in the world. Whenever we missed the school bus, your Thathi – Uncle Marcus took us both on his scooter with you in front enjoying the ride, and me on the pillion with my schoolbooks.
Once inside the Primary gate I used to carry you with your bag and bottle of drink and run to the Montessori, leave you in your class, and run to my class in the Upper school.
Your days in the Primary School especially in the choir and band with Miss Lorna, and also the Upper School Choir and Western Band were treasured moments, where your musical talents shone.
These loving memories engulf me and hurt me these days as I prepare to celebrate our school day – the Feast of St. Bridget with the School Choir and the Western Band, walking around the very place you bade me farewell in the Primary grounds.
The unusual expression in your eyes that night, gazing at me intently, with your head tilted to a side, after which you hugged me and kissed me saying “Goodnight Priyanthi Akki, bye God Bless, take care, love to Mariella.” The memory of your voice and final words will echo in my heart, and bring tears to my eyes for the rest of my life.
Meli, you cared so much for the people around you, and were so gentle that you would never hurt a fly. You loved your friends and family and no matter how hard you worked, you were always there whenever someone needed you, to go the extra mile.
It is humanly impossible to explain or fathom the plan and purpose of God. All I can say is your death was a reflection of the sufferings of Jesus on Calvary while Mother Mary remained at the foot of the cross praying. It is this immense faith in God and His Mother Mary that keep your parents and brother strong, after your tragic end.
Meli, I know that if you are here today, you would be telling us all to cheer up, and to think about how wonderful your life was. You would want us to celebrate your life and not be sad about losing you. You touched our hearts with so many things.
The hearts of your Ammi Manel, Thathi Marcus and loving brother are filled with so much pain. We know you are watching over them and dwelling in their midst unseen to human eyes, carrying them on angels wings. After you left us, Radhika has been a gift of God and also your gift to the family.
The wounds in the hearts of your parents and loved ones will never heal but memories of the sparkle and twinkle in your eyes, your laughter which we will cherish remain. Rest in the peace of Christ our darling cousin Meli. We love you and you will live on in our lives forever.
On behalf of the family,
-Priyanthi Seneviratne Van Dort
Asoka Vitarana
Thinking of you
Our thoughts are ever with you
Though you have passed away.
And those who loved you dearly
Are thinking of you today.
-Your friends and family
George Fredrick Siriwardena
Family ties filled with memories of a generous person
The hundredth birth anniversary of George Siriwardena fell on January 30, but he left us three years ago at the age of 97 having lived an exemplary life.
He was popularly known amongst his friends as ‘George’ but to me he was ‘Pelawatte Siriwardena Aiya’as I associated closely with the Siriwardena family when they were residing at Pelawatte Road, Nugegoda.
The Siriwardena family is closely related to my family as his brother-in-law was married to my cousin.
I still remember Siri Aiya and his family with their toddlers Prasanna, Champika and Wasantha visiting our home in Kandy to see the Kandy Perahera. For the last 50 years we maintained a close relationship between the two families.
Siriwardena Aiya hailed from a respectable family in Tihagoda, Matara. His father was the village headman of Polwathumodera and his mother was a school teacher.
He lost his father at the tender age of six and his mother took charge of him and his sister Ada, who later became a school principal. He had his school education at the anglo-vernacular boys’ school at Mirissa and later at St. Thomas College, Matara.
Having started his career in the Health Department as a Public Health Inspector, he became a Health Education Officer and served the country in many parts of the island. He was very popular amongst the rural people.
With Siriwardena Aiya’s tall, handsome figure, he looked like a film star in his young days. Several pictures of his appeared in publications issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
I associated closely with the Siriwardena family and stayed with them at Pelawatte Road, Nugegoda during my university days. I am ever grateful to Siriwardena Aiya and his wife for providing me a comfortable home in Colombo.
They treated me like their own brother and a family member. I stayed with them for nearly a decade until I got married and moved out to a new life.
Siriwardena Aiya was attached to the Badulla Health Office for a considerable period and later joined the Colombo Office mainly for the benefit of educating his children.
After his retirement from Government Service in 1975 he joined the CNAPT office in Colombo and served the country, educating the people by conducting seminars and workshops on TB for more than two decades.
Siriwardena Aiya was a well-read, entertaining and friendly person who was multi-talented. He was a good speaker in both Sinhala and English and a talented artist, poet, and columnist whose cartoons and poems were also published in several journals.
His two sons are also influenced by these talents as the eldest son Dr. Prasanna is a good artist and the youngest son Wasantha has gone further to become a professional cartoonist in several leading newspapers, like the Sunday Observer and the Sunday Times. Champika the only daughter in the family is a science graduate and teacher at S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia.
Siriwardena Aiya spent his last stages with his daughter in Thalapathpitiya, Nugegoda and was very well looked after.He was blessed with four grand children, namely Supun, Rumal, Nipun and Praween.
As a grandfather he did his duty by opening bank accounts for each of them and contributing from his pension every month, monies which were very useful in their higher education expenses etc.
His health matters were well attended to by his son Dr. Prasanna and daughter- in- law Dr. Pradeepa. Siriwardena Aiya had a comfortable life at his last stages thanks to his dutiful children and their spouses who loved and cared for him so much.
Siriwardena Aiya and his wife, who predeceased him, were two great and courageous people that I have met in my life. May they attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana.
Nimal Malli
(Nimal Gunaratne)
Mohamed Zacky Caffoor
You left behind an irreplaceable void
Our darling and beloved Brother
Was suddenly snatched away from our midst
Before the blink of our eyes
Leaving behind an irreplaceable void
With an indelible mark to sadden our lives
Suddenly you departed in a hurry
To ascend the Heavens
And to reach the throne of Allah
To receive his blessings with mercy
Whenever we do remember your ever smiling face
Our eyes swell with tears to be wiped
The warmth, the humour and unblemished sincerity
Are noteworthy and salient features of your life
Your pleasant words, gentle manners and charismatic ways
A kind heart filled to help those in need
Untold magnanimity and silent philanthropy
Are admirable qualities which are uniquely yours
A golden heart stopped throbbing and beating
Causing untold misery gloom and despair
It broke not only the hearts of those near and dear
But all others who associated with you and cherished your charm
The crowd that thronged for your last journey
Was ample testimony of the respect and regard you had won
A true son of the soil, a gentleman par
excellence
A Trinitian to the core and a lion
May Almighty Allah grant you Jennathul Firdouse
And the angels their choicest blessings
Your sweet memories will be remembered forever
With sadness choking our throats and souls
With tears
Your everloving sisters
-Hidaya and Makiya
Ananda Lewangama
He rendered a great service during his tenure in the Police Dept.
It is four years now since the death of Ananda Lewangama who passed away in January 2012.
He was born on February 8, 1948 just after the independence of our motherland.There is no doubt it was the luck of our motherland that he was born at the dawn of gaining freedom from the British.
He was the son of Dr. S.G.Lewangama and Prema Kalyani Lewangama of Ruwanwella. He was educated at Holy Cross Gampaha, St.Mary’s College Kegalle, Dharmaraja College Kandy and Ananda College Colombo.
During his schooldays in Ananda, he was actively involved in sports and won many events in discus throwing, putt shot, athletics and cricket. He was a top notch badminton player. He won his colours and brought honour to his school by winning several inter-school and all island championships.
He counted 38 years of service in the Police Department. He joined the Sri Lanka Police service as a Sub-Inspector in 1970 and served in Colombo Fort, Grandpass, the Colombo harbour and Kotahena.
He was promoted to Inspector of Police within a short span in 1978 and served as OIC Bulathkohupitiya, Meerigama,Nittambuwa and Modara. He married Rupa Perera, a school teacher in 1985.
Promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1985, he had special training in counter subversive activities. He handled the Police intelligence activities diligently while the country was facing a critical situation.
In 1991 he was made Superintendent of Police and served in Jaffna, Kantale, Matale and Ampara. In 1996 he was promoted to Senior Superintendent of Police and in 2006 became a Deputy Inspector of Police. He served in Trincomalee and NWP North as DIG and Western Province Special Intelligence until his retirement in 2008.
He followed courses locally and overseas pertaining to his duties in the Police Department. His overseas training in England, USA, Japan and Israel helped in the drive to eradicate terrorism from our motherland.
In 2004 when the tsunami affected the Eastern Province, as SSP Ampara, he rendered a remarkable service. As a devout Buddhist he protected the Buddangala Viharaya from LTTE attacks.
He had a good relationship with the people, especially the poor, where ever he served. His numerous good qualities, disciplined mind, steadfast faith, cheerfulness, patience, honesty and trustworthiness were remarkable and admirable.
He was an honest public servant, good relative, social worker and devoted father to his son Buddhi and daughter Dilmi. As the elder brother of the family, he always gave his sisters and brothers love and care.
The memories he left are many. Missed are his sweet smile and lovable words. May many like our Ananda, be born to make this world as beautiful as he made it.
May he attain the supreme bliss of nirvana.
-Upul Dissanayake
Merlyn Rita Goonesekera
She was hard working and prayerful
On September 6, 1932 out popped the first born beautiful baby girl to her proud parents Mr. and Mrs. Peter Pinto. They named her Merlyn Rita Pinto.
They then had five more children, Rosie, Barbra, Joseph, Lillian and Manel. Merlyn’s father was a health inspector in Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). Peter Pinto died of typhoid at the age of 32.
Merlyn aged 11, being the oldest sibling helped her mother with her younger brother and sisters. Her mother who had started working as a nurse sent Merlyn, her brother and sisters to a Catholic boarding school. Merlyn missed her mother a lot but had her sisters and brother as company in school.
At one of the nearby houses where they lived was a boy called Mervyn Goonesekera. Mervyn was very friendly towards Merlyn as she was very beautiful; he was not too bad looking either, he thought himself to be a Clark Gable or Errol Flynn look alike. Mervyn was an athlete, he won many competitions and played many sports, cricket being his favourite. Merlyn worked as a personal secretary. In 1957 Merlyn and Mervyn were married.
Merlyn gave birth to her first child – Kirthi Peter Sebastian in 1958, followed by another son Anthony Marino Augustine in 1959. In 1961 their third child – a daughter they named Bernadette Luckshmi was born, followed by Martin Patrick Bertram and Lloyd Thomas Steven.
Mervyn then worked for the American Embassy carrying out the imports and exports of goods from Ceylon to the USA and USA to Ceylon. His job paid well so Mervyn was able to purchase a plot of land and build a house (still standing today called “Lloyds Lodge”) for Merlyn and the children to live in.
When many of the US and British operations were shut down, Mervyn lost his job and Merlyn after having five children, her youngest being one year old made the very hard decision and left the family in Sri Lanka to travel to England where she joined her sister to train as a nurse.
Merlyn started off in Paddington Nurses’ College as a trainee nurse – they were very strict those days at the Nursing College, everyone had to have clean, pressed uniforms, polished shoes and eat their breakfast in the mornings.
Merlyn then saved money for Mervyn to come over to England. As Mervyn arrived in England he started working also as a customs officer, leaving that to work on the trains. They both started to save money to pay for the air tickets and voyage to England for their five children.
Peter, Anthony, Lloyd, Martin, two at a time flew over to England UK on BOAC while Bernadette travelled by ship with her grandmother.
Life was very tough for Merlyn and the family living in a two bedroom apartment with five children, with an additional child born in 1966 named George.
Merlyn worked nights so she could look after her children during the day when they came home from school. She worked a 12-hour shift 8 p.m. to 8 a.m four days a week most of the time, also doing overtime on other days to pay for her children’s food, clothes and extra things they required.
Eventually Merlyn and Mervyn managed to scrape enough money together to buy their first three bedroom house in the UK. Merlyn’s brother, sister and their husband and wife also rented the dining room and the living room. So Merlyn and Mervyn would be able to pay the mortgage on the house.
Merlyn put all her faith in God, Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and many of the saints to help her in times of need. She always thanked God, prayed the rosary every day and towards the end of her life she said the rosary three times a day.
When Merlyn was diagnosed with cancer in the lung, liver and pancreas, doctors gave her only six months to live. Yet did not lose her faith, turn away from God or blame him for her illness.
Instead she prayed even harder. She lived for another two more years enjoying life to the full as God intended her to do.
-Martin Goonesekera