William Forbes:

Unforgettable personality

It was a shock to me in my life to know that my dearest uncle, my father’s brother, William Forbes had bid adieu to all of us, making bereaved our entire family, relatives and close intimates at the early age of just 58.

Only permanent feature in life is impermanency. In this impermanency his sweet smile, always-in-happy mood and appreciable many a quality will be in our memories for ever and ever.

Born on May 19, 1953 and departed on December 31, 2010 - last year who was with us for his entire lifetime being a bachelor and the dearest uncle specially to me.

A day that is filled with sadness
Returns to us today
To mark the day you left us
In such a sudden way
Some will say as time goes by the heartache will subside
But the feelings in our hearts today
are the same as the day you died

Fondly remembered by your ever loving brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and specially ever loving daughter Natali.

May you Rest in Peace.

Fondly remembered and sadly missed by

Natali

Fowzul Jannah Moulana:

Enormous loss

I was thoroughly shocked and highly disappointed on hearing the sudden demise of my loving sister Fowzul Jannah Moulana on October 23, 2011.

She was the daughter of Dr. Moulavi Seyyid Abdussalam Moulana and Hajiani Khatheeja Moulana of Gothatuwa.

Eventhough she had been the youngest of the six children in the family she had been predominant and all her brothers received ideas decisions and advises from her for their betterment.

She was educated at St. Paul’s Milagiriya, Colombo 4. In school, she was well-known as “mighty atom” as she was short but her knowledge was wide.

She was fluent in English and was in the last batch of English stream students prior to the abolishment of English medium classes in schools.

She held English tuition classes for students who visited her residence. She had improved the standard of English of several students. Even after they have completed their courses they use to contact her every now and then through the phone to clear their doubts.

Several of her students have passed out as graduates, doctors and teachers and some are holding responsible posts in esteemed institutions and departments.

I very well know that a teacher who was a student of hers, follows the same procedures of administration and maintenance similar to what she has adopted.

She has continued her English classes for the last three decades and was popularly known in this area as “Fowzy Akka”.

Her sudden death at her 50s is an irreparable and enormous loss not only to the family but to the entire community and people of Sri Lanka.

Even though she did not have any children due to late marriage, she looked after the children of her sister as her own and they too were very fond of her. Her only ambition was to see that the children of her sister and four brothers reach the highest standard in education.

She had been very religious, generous and very helpful to the poor and needy.

She continued her morning prayers daily from 4 am to 8 am and hesitated to get up from her place of worship until she had finished reciting a good portion of the Holy Quran.

May the one and only Almighty Allah shower His blessings and mercy on her to achieve Jennathul Firdouse, Aameen.

Haji, Seyyid Habeebullah Moulana

Berty Wimalasuriya:

Dedicated personality

Berty Wimalasuriya, the first principal of Paththalagedara Science and Mathematics Teachers’ College ( present Siyane College of Education) passed away a few weeks ago leaving much sorrow in the hearts of his family members and also of those who had associated with him even for a short time. The consolation is that he rendered a silent service in the field of teacher education by imparting his knowledge and skills to teachers under training and led a peaceful and healthy life after retirement.

I came to know him when I joined Paththalagedara Teachers’ College as a lecturer just after the inauguration of the College in 1972. As the first principal, he had a lot of work to do starting from taking over the newly constructed buildings, assigning duties to the non-academic and academic staff, equipping the laboratories. He also had to lecture in Chemistry, Teaching Methodology and also conduct demonstration lessons and supervise teaching practice.

During those days, he worked late night to see that the college would not be second to Maharagama Teachers’ College. In these tasks he was ably assisted by M.A. Cooray the Vice Principal and the devoted lecturers.

It was a very pleasant experience to work under his administration and we were not subjected to harsh rules of normal office administration and the result was that the lecturers hardly took any leave and whenever they had to take leave for a sickness or to attend to some urgency they themselves arranged the replacements.

He won the hearts of the teachers under training and they were very cooperative in all the activities of the college to such an extent that they cultivated a plot of paddy fields belonging to the College and also toiled to turf the playground with grass. He was a good friend to the academic and non-academic staff and a father to the trainees.

He had much interest in astronomy and photography. We spent many a night identifying the constellations, stars and the planets in the very clear sky that was not polluted by urban light and dust.

The photographic club under him gave the trainees an opportunity to get theoretical and practical knowledge in photography and printing. Trainees were also prepared for professional examinations of the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka.

The Electronics Club where the trainees learned many practical applications such as radio receivers, radio transmitters, amplifiers and burglar alarms was handled by C. Sandanayaka who joined the staff from Science Inspectorate.

The functioning of the college ran smoothly except for brief spells of dry weather when the wells supplying water ran dry. Occasionally, the College had to be closed for a few weeks when the dry weather was very severe. I can remember an interesting way in which he solved a problem brought to him by the trainees during a period of dry weather.

He was very open minded and allowed the trainees to invite persons like Dr. Abraham Kovoor and Professor Carlo Fonseka for special talks. These talks helped the trainees to dispel their superstitious beliefs and to develop a scientific attitude.

Though he is no more, he has left behind in our memory his exemplary and professional way in which he ran the college, showing the qualities of a leader and not a boss. He also guided us by example, how to be a good teacher. I hope his beloved wife, the son, daughters and the family members will be able to reduce their sorrow when they think about his life well lived in the service of humanity.

A.D. Gunasekera

ARTHUR JAYASEKERA:

We will certainly miss him

It was my joy to met Uncle Arthur when working at St. Paul’s Milagiriya. He certainly was a rare human being. He ran a Home with family funds to look after children and educate them. He was also a person who had a weekly paper helping the traders about prices, very specially exporters.

Arthur was professionally a banker, worked at the Central Bank and the Bank of Ceylon. He and his family were also known for playing Table Tennis for the Country.

In the midst of all this, I knew Arthur as a Christian gentleman. He was in Church every Sunday and was a great person to indulge in conversation. He was also a significant member of the Tuesday cottage meetings. At these meetings he always spoke. He certainly was a student of Paul the Apostle.

He always used to send a note whenever I wrote something for the papers, preached in Church or at the cottage meetings.

There was a personal touch that he extended during my ministry at St. Paul’s and thereafter. We will certainly miss him. The cottage meeting on the day of his funeral certainly was different without him. His family and friends will certainly be in our prayers and may his soul rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen. SK

DAMAYANTHA WICKREMESINGHE:

Rare human being

Dammy, as she was affectionately called, was born on November 14, 1926 and left us on December 12, 2011. It was my privilege and joy for having had the pleasure of meeting her. I first met her when I returned to Colombo to work in the Cathedral in 1989. During this long period, I realized that she took her discipleship as a Christian seriously. She was a very regular member of the cathedral worshipping community at Bauddhaloka Mawatha, when I used to be there.

Even after I left the cathedral, I did endeavour to keep in touch with her. For her Christian discipleship meant certainly Sunday worship but much more. Therefore she, with Muktha Wijesinghe, now in the nearer presence of God and a few others thankfully still with us helped me to begin the Kitu Sevena neighbourhood programme.

For this, Dammy along with the others had to make time, perhaps giving up the luxury of the afternoon siesta and coming to Kitu Sevena as a volunteer. Thankfully, she was one of those rare human beings who spoke to me after the service discussing the manner in which the worship was conducted whenever I preached.

Our friendship included discussing many a subject and no time spent with her was complete without discussing the life and times of her father, the famous Hulugalle of Lake House fame.

SK, her beloved husband, her siblings and their families and all those near and dear can certainly be assured that when Dammy left us she would have heard those words of welcome from the source of all life for she was indeed a very faithful disciple of Christ. May her soul rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.

Sydney Knight