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ROYAL PRIMARY SCHOOL 1953-58 & ROYAL COLLEGE 1959-66 |
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IN MEMORIAM They have moved on, and, we will surely follow! |
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1. R J de Silva 2. Wilhelm Koch - Wilhem early 80s soon after a good promotion in the pharmaceuticals sales field - caught under the boat which capsized during a casual boat ride during the course of his training in Brisbane, Australia 3. Mohamed Jezli Hussain (RPS Class of 1953) - died in Sri Lanka 4. S Selliah
5. Mohamed Nizam Jaimon - Athlete (relay) and formidable wing three quarter at Rugby Football. Major in the Sri Lanka Army. Was afflicted with Parkinson's disease and died in Sri Lanka
6. Rohan M Perera - Was employed at the French Embassy in Colombo as the Press Officer. Died in Sri Lanka. Died of Cancer in 1999. Was the inaugural President of the '59 Group for several years during which he rallied round the old chas to come together and initiate the coveted Library Project for the school which is still on-going successfully.
7. R S Ramlal Gunewardene - Athlete and Rugby Football player. Was attached to the Sri Lanka CID and assigned to the Human Rights Commission on Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Hague. Died in Switzerland in 1999 after a bout of Malarial fever on his return to his work station from Sri Lanka after a short holiday at Yala. 8. Radhan Rajaratnam - Passed away in 1999 having suffered poisoning. 9. D Mahinda Jayasinghe - Passed away in 1999 after a bout of Cirrhosis of the Liver 10. Naween Rajapakse - Passed away in December 2000. Naveen (Kunni, affectionately to all of us) was a most friendly , relaxed guy. Fne baila singer with a long list of them
which had got indelibly committed to a clear memory. He and Panna
and go on for hours. Naveen, who was trained in accountancy at Cecil Arsecularatne & Coy, and qualified as a Chartered
Acountant, started his working life as Finance Manager at Pegassus Reef hotel. He quickly matured into hotel directorships
with Mercantile Investments, and was responsible for the building and running of its many hotels. He was working on
the sixth one when he was sadly grabbed from us. The first and most well-known hotel of his, at which he arranged for
his batchmates of the 59 group to meet for a weekend in mid 1998, was Tangerine in Kalutara. Naveen was a very vocal figure at the Roy-Thos of the sixties. Indefatigably on his feet with a blue & gold wrapped round his meagre frame. Cheering and generally batting until he was hoarse and dumb. But next day, he was fresh as a daisy for day two. A glutton for delightful punishment if ever there was one. After lectures at the accountancy institute, he would waste no time in getting home, and completing what study-related tasks he had. One day I delayed him by tempting him for a cup of tea at the cafe there. He wasn't a happy boy: "fanatic, maniac,.." were some of the words I copped.
My wife and I were on the second day of our honeymoon at Pegasus Reef. The phone rings - too early in the a.m. ! Kawda? Kunni. We are invited to the executive suite for brekkie. And I was surprised as I hadn't known Kunni was there, let alone having informed him. He had spied the old name from the daily guest list and taken the initiative. A few nights later he was at the Home Coming and never left the side of the pianist until the wee hours.
His great love in recent years was tutoring his daughter in the same line as he followed - accounts. His dear wife Ayanthi and the girl live down Frankfurt Place, Wellawatte, where another very fond and active 59ner lives - Nihal Canagasabey, with wife Therese and their two boys. Skandakumar has also moved into the same street in recent times.
Very sadly surgical misadventure during a silly bile duct operation left him bleeding and thus caused the loss of an enormously promising and productive life. It was not cirrhosis as many surmised because Naveen was given to having a good time at gatherings, and that with or without the stuff that cheers. 11. Aubrey Norman Willis - (RPS Class of '53) Was with the Class of 1953-58 at RPS. Passed away in UK on May 7 2002. Obituary appeared in Sunday Observer of May 19 2002 as follows:- WILLIS AUBREY NORMAN Dearly beloved husband of Joyce (UK), much loved father of Sharon and Mervyn (UK), loving son of late Sydney and Iris Willis, caring brother of late Tyrone and of Darrel, June, Russel, Orvyl, Arlene and Tyrell (All of UK), passed away in London on 7th May, 2002. Funeral will take place on Tuesday 21st May at Beckenhan Cemetery, South London. 3A, Sherborne Road, Sutton, London, SM 3 9QA (London papers please copy). 12. CJL Wijeratne 13. HASSW Bamunawela: 2002, Passed away in Sri Lanka after a long illness caused by a brain tumor. 14. Jeeva Satchithananthan - 2005, Passed away after a long illness 15. P Chandrakanthan. 2005, Passed away in Canada 16. Sarath Ambepitiya - 2005, Assasinated by gangsters in Colombo when dealing with a massive drugs case as Justice 17. Rama Sellamuttu - 2008. Passed away in Sydney Australia - June 2008 after a prolonged illness for almost 10 years. |
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