The staff and students of the Joyce Goonesekera Montessori House of Children, Lauries Road, Colombo 4., remember with much love and gratitude Miss Selina Joyce Goonesekara on this her 100th Birth Anniversary(June 19 2011).

"Aunty Joyce" has been a household name among both the young and old who have had the good fortune of meeting, knowing, loving and associating with such a great and noble lady. Born in 1911 she was destined to be a great woman. When she just turned seventeen, she joined Mrs. A.G. Preston as a student in the hope of becoming a trained teacher.

Joyce Goonesekera

Joyce's association with Dr. Maria Montessori goes as far back as 1941 when she took the third Indian Montessori Training Course held in Adyar at the Theosophical Centre in Olcott Gardens. Wishing to study further, she followed Dr. Montessori to Kodaikanal. There she assisted in establishing the first House of Children for an international group of children while at the same time taking the only Advanced Montessori Course given in India.

She was delighted when an invitation was received from the Association of Head Mistresses in Colombo asking Dr. Montessori to conduct the first Montessori Course in Sri Lanka, in July 1944.

She returned to Sri Lanka with Dr. Montessori, where she was an assistant on the training programme. She supervised the practical work of the students together with Lena Wickramaratne. Joyce was pleased that Dr. Montessori entrusted the continuity of this noble work to the Congregation of the Good Shepherd Sisters. After this course Dr. Montessori requested Joyce to continue helping her in India, but since her family was reluctant to let her go, she stayed on in Sri Lanka working for over 60 years, enjoying her work at the only AMI recognized Good Shepherd Maria Montessori Training Centre until she was called to her Eternal Reward on November 3 2003.

Joyce was appreciated and respected, not only as a lecturer but as the oldest Montessorian in Sri Lanka and also the oldest and only personal pupil of the late Dr. Maria Montessori. She was responsible for starting the first Montessori House of Children at the Good Shepherd Convent, Colombo 13 and also for many other Houses of Children throughout the city and the suburbs. When in 1948 Dr. Montessori revisited Sri Lanka with Renilde Montessori, her grand-daughter, they were present at the opening of Joyce's first Montessori House of Children in her hometown, Galle.

We must put on record the valued and distinguished part played by Joyce in helping to establish and promote the Montessori Method in Sri Lanka, assisting the Good Shepherd Sisters. Her unstinting devotion, her generous giving of herself and her knowledge as an educator resulted in a life full of achievement. She is an example to follow always teaching by example how best to achieve much with humility. In recognition of her services rendered to the children and teachers of Sri Lanka the Deshabandu Award was conferred on her by President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Meeting her was a great experience, for here was a woman who had devoted her whole life to the cause of propagating the Montessori Method of Education to produce better citizens for the country. Her name will always be remembered with love and respect. She was a woman who worked with a missionary zeal and produced remarkable results. Great was her love for children and many not loved and cared for, always found a home with Joyce.

We do not mourn that we have lost such a good and noble personality; rather we give thanks and feel privileged to have lived with such a person.