Appreciations
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DR. DONOVAN MARK AMERASINGHE
A one of a kind doctor who went about doing good
How soon the days have gone by. On March 1, it was one year since you bade goodbye to all of us who loved you in life.
But though you are gone from our sight and from our lives, still the memory of you remains and this is why it has made me write these few lines remembering you as the Doctor who was always available and kind towards his patients.
I also found you to be very practical in your advice. You were also one who believed in the natural process of healing, teaching your patients some simple exercises to do rather than dosing them with a lot of pain killers and other medicines.
A few years ago I had an Orthopaedic problem. As the result of a bad fall I was left with a dislocated clavical. I was advised to undergo an operation to set it right and was told that a screw had to be inserted.
I was close to 70 when this accident happened and I was in no mood for an operation. I decided to go and consult Dr. Mark. He was by now retired and living with his wife Premini in his residence on Anniewatte Road.
When I phoned him up he asked me to come home. I went to meet him knowing that he would give me good advice. He certainly did.
He examined me, put me through some exercises and told me that there was no need to undergo an operation. He then told me of a ruggerite from Trinity College Kandy, who had met with a similar accident and who had come to him for treatment. He had gone on to play for the Sri Lanka national rugger team. He had also not undergone any operation.
On another occasion I had a back pain which was quite painful. It was causing me a lot of discomfort. When I went to see him, after asking me a few questions he casually asked me to open the lowest drawer in a cupboard that was in his examination room.
When I was bending down to open it he stopped me and told me: “Now I know the reason for your back pain”. He then went on to show me the correct ways of bending and explained to me the need to always keep my spine erect when carrying heavy objects.
When I twisted my ankle he sat down with me and showed me what I should do and how to wrap a crepe bandage around my ankle.
He then advised me never to ignore a sprain saying that very often we neglect a sprain while paying attention to a fracture. After following his advice I must say that I have not got a serious back pain ever since.
This was you dear Doctor. You were one of a kind who went about doing good in a very unobtrusive manner. You were so down to earth in your advice.
The strata of society a person came from, the riches of a person, the race, religion or nationality of the person, were not your concern. All that mattered to you was to be of service to the patient and to do your utmost to cure him.
You will not pass this way again. But the good that you have done, and the kindness that you have shown to human beings will always be a reminder to us who live of what you have been and are to us. May you attain Nibbana.
-Shanti Abeyasingha
Doreen Alles
You have done well, dear Mum
I read many appreciations in the newspapers and my heartfelt thoughts go out to those known and mostly unknown families. It is so nice to warmly remember the good that those gone before us have done with gratitude for their efforts. Not everyone is a famous personality, but all have made a lasting impression on those left behind. Doreen Alles was a keen contributor to the Island newspaper Limericks and Captions page, winning often. She had a keen mind and sent in her completed crosswords, including the cryptic crosswords to the Sunday Times with many wins.
The following verses were written sometime after the demise of my father Christie, my husband Sunil and my sister’s husband Chrisantha, in 2003 and 2004 leaving Mum and us to bear their absence from us. She faced all this with fortitude and gave me a sense of support and solace so the verses were in deep appreciation of her, while Mum was quite able.
Later on when she fell ill and was cared for by my sister, I came across what I had penned and read it out to her again. She received it with an appreciative half-smile.
You have done well, dear Mum, may you rest in peace.
Dearest Mum, I thought I’d write
Though I’m not sure I should dare
To say how much I appreciate
Your time, your toil, your love and care.
From yowling baby with fevers high (Headaches still abound)
For me it’s real and I know you worry
But you taught me to stand
Feet firmly on the ground.
So long ago, to laugh, to play
With much humour and affection
Birthdays, Christmas, picnics, parties
Planned with precision and perfection!
With crochet hooks and traditional books
Written with flair and feeling,
Your love for Lanka, depicted in art
And planned for our own wedding!
There’s so much more, of long ago…
Drying tears after bruising
Baking cakes and how to sew….
And in recent times, the time of woe
By being beside me sleeping.
And as years roll by with fortune’s waves
You ride on every crest
Exhorting me to follow by
Trusting God to do what’s best
Now at my nearly three score years
Weathering storms and teetering on the edge
You always say that you’re “just fine!”
Propping me on a ledge
Patiently listening to triumphs and trials
You make sure that I don’t fall
“Take a step at a time”, “Christmas is hope”
You are there with plum pudding, kisses and all!!
Thank you.
With love,
-Your daughter, Shereen
Dr. Noel Wickremasinghe
An enviably handsome and cultured personality
Living out a life span of four score and ten is a rare event among most mortals. Dr. Noel Wickremesinghe of Putney, London SW and formerly a medical practitioner of Katuneriya and Pitipana, Negombo was blessed with this achievement in addition to a happy wedded life of 62 years.
Dr.Noel who passed away in late January 2016 was the eldest of four siblings, two boys and two girls, who used to call him Loku Aiya. To us his cousins he was Noel Aiya, a tall, fair, enviably handsome and cultured personality.
A medical consultant friend of his, also known to me used to call him Clarke Gable. In his mid teens he lost his father, Aloysius Wickremesinghe of Seeduwa, after a botched operation when he was studying at a school in Negombo where he completed the London Matriculation examination with a first division pass.
Later he entered St. Joseph’s College, Maradana where his contemporaries were the lateTony Fernando (HMAB), Lecturer in Philosophy at Peradeniya, Dr.Godfrey Gunatilleke, Emeritus Chairman, Marga Institute, late Dr. Reggie Pieris, Medical Administrator and late Dr. Lorenz Perera.
From there he entered the University and one year later the Medical College passing out as a medical graduate in the early Fifties. Getting into private practice after a few years in the public sector he established a lucrative practice with his caring and winning ways in Katuneriya enjoying the confidence of a large clientele who flocked to him from the suburbs and villages around Wennappuwa and Negombo. Dr.Noel migrated to the UK in the mid Seventies passing down his practice to fellow school mate Dr. Lorenz Perera.
While at Katuneriya he married Beatrice, daughter of Solomon Fernando, a prosperous businessman. He spent a blissful wedded life of 62 years with her and they were blessed with two daughters and a son.
During my visits to UK I made it a point to see him on each occasion exchanging nostalgic reminiscences of incidents in the lives of our village folk and relations in Pitipana, Negombo. Due to my undue sensitivity to cold weather and fearing an extremely cold winter towards December I met up with him in early September last year at his home in Putney.
Right up to the middle of January he was in good health even after an appendicitis operation. But unexpectedly Death stole him from us.
The last rites were performed on February 12 at the Church of St.Simon Stock, Putney where he was a devout parishioner. The Parish Priest later performed the final service at the cemetery.
His son-in-law Dr.Stuart White and granddaughter Pia spoke of his days of retirement and his three passions, namely, perusal of the day’s newspaper the Guardian, the British Medical Journal and watching cricket matches, the last an unforgiving habit of his which was used as an analogy for the 91- year innings played in his earthly life returning to the pavilion declared out for a perpetual tryst with his Maker. A medical colleague of his Dr.Luke delivered an eulogy at the residence.
We express our condolences to his wife Beatrice, son Duleep, and daughters Niru and Suranie and to the grandchildren and also to his only surviving sibling Mrs.Doris Panditaratne living in Negombo, in their time of grief. May his soul rest in peace.
-Dr. Leo Fernando