A tale of an outstanding Sportsman and Scholar
It was 1950, when Michael and I joined the boarding of St. Benedict’s College, home sick and not knowing what we have in store in our first experience in boarding life. We shared our joys and sorrows and became close friends until Mike left us for a better place on the 28th of May 2017.
He was an amazing guy with loads of talent and basically a good guy. I have not known him to have got into any fights or disagreements with any of his friends. He was a brilliant student, who could put his hands into anything or join any discussion as he was knowledgeable with subjects of the day. He represented College in Cricket as a paceman and played alongside me under the great Ceylon batsman Lionel Fernando. He was also an outstanding athlete and won the College Juvenile, Junior and Senior Champion trophies. He represented the College at the Public Schools Athletic Meets. He was also a Junior and Senior Cadet and as Corporal Michael Joachim, he won the Postal Firing Competition (Individual), when the College Junior Firing Team secured First Place in the Team Event in 1956.
He is remembered as a brilliant student along with his classmate and good friend Appiah Amirtharajah. They both entered the Engineering Faculty of the University of Ceylon 1960, Appiah coming in first and Michael second in the whole island. In class, the two of them used to question the Teachers, as to why they were not given 100 marks when they had got all the answers right. Their reply was that some ‘i’s were not dotted or the ‘t’s not crossed. While Appiah went over to United States, where became a world authority in Environmental Engineering, Mike did his PhD in the UK. On completion of his Doctorate, his professor at Edinburgh University wanted him to join the faculty or if he desired to go to any country he could help him. But Mike chose to return to Sri Lanka and work for the government. He had a strong desire to work for the country, may be due to the influence of his great father Dr. A. W. R. Joachim, the first Ceylonese Director of Agriculture, who worked closely with the ‘Father of the Nation’ Hon. D. S. Senanayake. He worked diligently for the government of Sri Lanka for 33 years under several Ministers and was a voiceferous defender of his dear Mother Lanka. He was Secretary to the Ministry of Housing & Construction and served in several boards. After retirement, he served as Chairman, State Engineering Corporation and later Chairman, Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA) at the time of his demise.
He was offered many high positions in the private sector, which would have brought him riches, but he always declined preferring to serve the Country. He was an honorable man. Many stories are known of people who have come to him with gifts and were turned away from his house. He lived a simple life. Worldly things did not interest him at all. He was at ease working with taskmasters like Minister Pieter Keuneman and President R. Premadasa, who all respected him as an honorable Gentleman and a First Class Civil Engineer.
Michael married his school days’ sweetheart Estelle and has two children Janice and David. He loved to go shooting. After all, he was a top marksman in College; he even carried a scar, when he accidently shot himself.
He was very close to his Alma Mater and was one time vice Patron of the St. Benedict’s College Old Boys Union and was one of the Seven Old Boys, Director Bro Benildus, invited to form the St. Benedict’s College, Development Fund in 1982 to fast track the infrastructure development in School. The result was the massive development work from 1985 to 2010, which included among the many other, three multi-storey classroom blocks, a completely reconstructed playground and modern Swimming Pool Complex. He provided his engineering to make some important decisions in the Playground and Swimming Pool Projects. Of the seven, Michael now joins Cletus Gomez and Athula Senarathne to their eternal rest.
Mike’s sudden death has left us all shocked and saddened. Thank the Almighty that he was spared any suffering. God took him away from all of us and we will miss him very much, particularly at College functions. May he rest in Peace. Goodby my pal until we meet again.
Allan Gunasekera, Melbourne, Australia.