Appreciations
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Beyond
the sunset yielded and still From the age of three months, Shirmal suffered from a debilitating if not devastating blood disease but he battled on for 30 years and three months with a silent inner strength that came straight from his God. Indeed, as the Holy Scriptures say the area where Shirmal was weak was the very same area through which God's strength manifested most powerfully. Though the rare blood disease hampered his formal education, Shirmal worked hard to obtain multifaceted degrees from the university of life and they proved to be much more productive than the examination or book oriented degrees. The physical weakness and the trauma of regular blood transfusions had little or no effect on a young and brilliant mind, full of the spirit of inquiry and discovery, with knowledge, creativity and imaginative skills of the highest levels. Besides being an expert in information and communication technology, Shirmal had brilliant talents and a creative genius in areas ranging from rare stamp and coin collecting and fish breeding in his home aquarium to technical skills of a wide array. By the age of 25, Shirmal Fernando was the information technology manager of his family company DPEX worldwide courier service and he played a crucial role in their international operations. His competence and commitment soon took him to the top as a director of this firm, but the humble Shirmal never lost the common touch. Some
of Kipling's lines in the ever inspiring "If" came alive
in Shirmal's life - In a touching moment before the casket was closed last Friday, from somewhere came the famous song, 'He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother' and every word was deeply meaningful. For more than thirty years Shirmal's parents, Shirly and Stephanie, his brother Shyan and sisters, Shirlene, Sandra, Sherika and Shioni had selflessly, sacrificially and lovingly cared for Shirmal. "So on we go, his welfare is my concern, no burden is he to bear, we'll get there", they sang though in tears. The love Shirmal so freely received from God and from them he freely gave and loved to the end. Shirmal you never faded with the sunset when the rain set in, your candles burned out long before your legend ever will. Goodbye Shirmal, God be with you till we meet again. A friend Bright
student and multi-skilled worker He later joined the Rubber Wood Project as a research officer at Borwood Ltd, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Board in 1980 and assumed duties as a research scientist in different disciplines covering timber technology. He then worked as the factory manager, having trained in timber utilization at the University of Minnesota and Forest Product Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA in 1982. After the liquidation of the Rubber Wood Project, he joined the private sector company Furnilanka Ltd and worked there from 1993-1998. He also worked at Athena Interiors and Azomic Mida Pvt. Ltd. He died after major surgery at the age of 50. He leaves behind his wife and two young children. May the soil lie softly over his remains. Hope Todd He
worked for the welfare of students For a short period he taught at Ananda and at the Servants of the Buddha Night School in Maradana. He joined the Government Training College for Teachers, where he successfully completed the course of studies. Travelling to the United Kingdom in 1929, he enrolled as a student at the London School of Oriental and African Studies and completed his degree in 1933. He returned to Ceylon in November 1933. He was the first Principal of Moratu Vidyalaya, which was opened in 1934. The new school had a competent staff, who taught a wide variety of subjects and a large number of students were enrolled in a short time. In 1938, he became the founder Principal of Gamini College, Bentota. At the outbreak of the second world war, he worked as an Information Officer in the Government Information Department for a short period. He left the Department to become the Vice Principal of Sri Vaisakha College Wellawatte, and later became its principal. With the introduction of educational reforms and establishment of the Central Schools by late Mr. C.W.W. Kannangara, Evan Ediriwira was appointed Principal of the Central School at Hanwella in 1945. This school, now known as Sitawake Rajasingha Maha Vidyalaya, was started in the premises of the existing Bi-lingual school with very basic facilities. As the number of students increased, he had to face the perennial problem of lack of space for class rooms. He solved the problem temporarily by using the same building for two sessions, the lower school in the morning, and the upper school in the afternoon. The school was also the place where adult education classes were held. Due to the increase in the number of admissions to the school, lack of space was a problem. He organized carnivals, variety entertainments; in addition, the well to do people in the district gave generously, and the result was, the school was able to purchase a block of land close to the town. With the help of funds released by the Government, new buildings were put up, and in 1953, the school shifted to the new venue. In 1954, Mr. Ediriwira assumed duties as Principal of Central College, Passara. Here, too during his tenure as Principal, the school was able to move to new buildings. In 1956, he assumed duties as Principal, Central School Hikkaduwa, now known as Sumangala Vidyalaya. During his time, the school was shifted from its original home by the sea and the main road to better surroundings inland. A few months before retirement, he passed away on March 10, 1961. Tilak M. Ediriwira He
would sacrifice anything for the sake of friendship Rasika was a student of Royal College, Colombo. His achievements were not confined to studies. He was a good sportsman who was a coloursman in the College athletics team. In addition, he took part in Scouting, Baseball and was in the Under-17 cricket team. In Scouting, he obtained the Presidential Award in 1999. Rasika's leadership qualities are evident for he was a House Captain in 1996, Senior Steward in 1996 and Senior Prefect in 1997. Rasika was studying for his M.Sc. in Management at Sri Jayewardenepura University (2001/2002 batch). It is worth noting that he had scored the highest marks for the Mathematics paper being the youngest student of his batch. He choose finance as his field of specialization after scoring a very high grade in financial management. However his core expertise was in the field of Information Technology. He had completed a B.Sc. in Computer Science with a first class at the University of Madras in India and was employed at Open World Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., as a Software Engineer. He exhibited great commitment both at his work places and in the academic field. We personally know that there were nights that he slept for less than 2 hours to meet his deadlines both at his work place and educational projects. Unlike most youngsters today, he was a very religious and actively participated in activities conducted by the Nawala Sri Wickramasinharamaya Temple. He observed sil on full moon poya day very religiously. He was a good and sincere friend who would have sacrificed anything for the sake for friendship. Janaka Jayaweera and Neranjith Gamage |
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