Appreciations
View(s):Inspired by his professionalism, kindness and integrity
PROF. HERBERT ALLAN APONSO
A centenarian, Prof. Herbert Aponso’s demise a few days ago grieved his many students, including the writer. They are now doctors in all parts of the world. He was a devout Christian and a pillar of the Church in Kandy. He had given up his lucrative General Practice in Moratuwa to join our faculty. As a pioneer of the Peradeniya Medical Faculty which came into being in 1962, I now reflect on his contribution to the faculty’s remarkable progress.
As his student in Paediatrics in ’64-65, I was inspired at his attitude, professionalism, kindness and integrity. When the Professorial Units shifted to the New Teaching Hospital at Peradeniya in 1982, abutting the University of Peradeniya, he, by then was the Professor of Paediatrics. He set about organising his Unit which included neonatal facilities. His concern for basics and community service was a feature. Many academics of quality were enticed to join the unit, as its reputation in clinical care, sub-specialisation and teaching grew. In mid-2000, when Paediatric Renal Transplants came to be a reality, our surgical unit and their Unit became closely associated.
On a personal note, having had a teacher-student relationship previously, I was greatly appreciative and touched by his gesture of visiting me at my home after I returned after a health catastrophe. His wife Wimala, predeceased him. He leaves behind a daughter Charmalie and two sons Ajith and Heshan.
Dr. Channa Ratnatunga
The Lankan Dr. Spock
Professor Herbert Allan Aponso bid farewell on May 9, after completing 100 years, one month and two weeks of life on this earth.
As an academic of the University of Peradeniya, he educated hundreds and hundreds in the medical profession, as a medical practitioner he cured an uncountable number of paediatric patients with his knowledge and skill and also moulded many through his exemplary lifestyle.
His contributions to the medical world were numerous and he was appreciated for those locally and globally.
The beauty of his vision was that it exceeded the field of medicine. He emphasized on “marrying health and agriculture” considering the great importance of nutrition for healthy living. With enthusiasm and dedication he rendered his services to nurture the stakeholders of the food crop sector on this aspect.
Professor Aponso had a strong religious faith. He was a legend in the Baptist church and well respected and consulted by the “Baptist Sangamaya”. Many clergy and laity of various religious faiths also flocked to participate in the final religious rites and to comfort his three children and their families.
In response to an international telephone call from a relative, Professor Aponso said he was living because of TLC (Tender Loving Care). How many parents can say that and how many children can hear it today? He was truly and really blessed. So are his three children and their families.
May his soul rest in peace.
-Rose Rupasinghe Samuel
Dedicated agriculturist who practised what she preached
KUMARI DISSANAYAKE
Mrs. Kumari Dissanayake who contributed tremendously to the Department of Agriculture was unique in her profession and as a person.
She was born on February 24, 1934 in Kothmale, a village closer to the hill capital to a wealthy Kandyan family. She had seven siblings, two brothers and five sisters. Her father being the village headman and of the Agalawatte family was highly respected in the locality.
It was the usual practice those days for upper middle class families, to send their children to boarding schools for education where the medium of instruction was English. Mrs. Dissanayake and her two sisters were boarded at Zeanna Mission Girls English School in Gampola for their primary and secondary education.
After completion of her secondary education she pursued higher education which was a bold step for a lady of that social strata in an era where women were expected to be married soon after leaving school.
She entered the School of Agriculture, Kundasale in 1953. It was a two-year diploma meant only for girls to make them better housewives. The syllabus had the touch of an European finishing school. The students could specialise either in Home Economics or Agricultural Sciences and Crop Management. Mrs. Dissanayake topped the 1953-1955 batch to obtain the diploma specializing in Home Economics. To quench her thirst for knowledge she again specialized in agricultural sciences and management of crops and topped the 1954 -1956 batch also. She created history by these remarkable achievements. This double diploma holder was just barely 22 years of age.
The Government Department of Agriculture absorbed her soon after the diploma as an instructress on animal husbandry to the Practical Farm School at Walpita where only girls were trained. She served there from 1956 to 1962.
She climbed up the career ladder as she demonstrated her commitment and capability at Walpita. She was appointed as Principal of the Batangala Practical Farm School in 1963. Her farm school students were deeply influenced by the well kept gardens of the school surrounded by fine orchards, beds of varieties of vegetables, yams and also the sprats. They would proudly state that their Principal Madam Dissanayake had even sprats in the garden for she applied her technical knowledge, putting it into practice. The sprat heads which were meant to be thrown away as kitchen refuse were used in the school garden to manure the crops on her instructions. Her students followed her ‘sprats growing in the garden” method with conviction in years to come. She left behind indelible footprints to be followed.
From1965 to 1972 she served as the Principal of the Training Institute, Bandarawela. She was a self- disciplined workaholic. She had to request for a transfer back to Walpita in 1972 as her husband in a managerial position with the government was transferred to Colombo unexpectedly. Walpita was the closest station from where he could commute from home ( the kids were three and two years of age at that time).
When the Dissanayake family was settled down in Kandy, her own home garden was a live demonstration plot to prove that she practised what she preached. Every inch of the land was utilized in an amazing way. When family visits were done ( to the annoyance of her husband), she took fresh green leaves, vegetables and fruits from the garden. The visitors to her home too were treated similarly when parting.
In the early seventies she was transferred to the Head Office of the Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya to work with the staff of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on a special FAO- funded project to educate the women in the farming systems to address the food crisis in the country that time. Her contribution to the programme had been immense in the form of lectures, demonstrations, field visits for monitoring and evaluation purposes, exhibitions, and printed matter in educating the extension officers of this special programme and their target groups.
Her unwavering focus was on promoting family nutrition and elevating the purchasing power of the family by introducing saving mechanisms and agro based cottage level enterprises. She was a livewire with her integrity and reservoir of knowledge to keep this programme alive after the foreign funds were terminated in August 1976 till a new leadership took over in the late eighties.
In Mangala Sutra, Lord Buddha states to honour those who are worthy of honour. On her 87th birthday celebration in 2021, a staff member who had been nurtured by her in the profession wrote a poem titled ‘Hela Bojun stalls are mushrooming’ in her honour. Mrs Dissanayake was thrilled by this unexpected appreciation and sent photos of the poem to her kith and kin all over the world on the birthday night itself. This poem expressed who she was as a person as well as a professional to command honour and respect.
Mrs. Dissanayake who was a”guru” to many passed away suddenly just five days after her 90th birthday.
May she attain blissful Nirvana.
-R.R.S.
Farewell my old friend
GLEN NUGARA
I was saddened to hear of the passing away of Glen, who was one of my oldest friends.
We were friends even before we entered our teens while living in the vibrant suburb of Dehiwala in those halycon days of the mid-fifties and mid-sixties.
Glen made friends easily with my brother Lohan and myself. We had one thing in common and that was our fondness for sport. We gave it more prominence than our studies.
In those days, most houses had a large land space besides the garden. There were lawns, like mini parks. It was on the lawn that we played cricket and closely watching us was his father, who was the umpire and the spectator. It was after sending the ball crashing through the window one day that we shifted our action to the Fraser Avenue grounds and continued playing with much enthusiasm.
Glen attended the School by the Sea and as his companions he would take us to see his school plays. His cricketing idols were many and mostly the leading Thomian cricketers of that era.
With the conclusion of the cricket season, it was rugby and again it was matches and more matches. We would trudge to London Place, Havelock Park and the Race Course making it into the Gandhi Stand and buying a ticket for 50 cents, we were privileged to watch some absorbing games when it was then a most popular sport in the country.
Aquaculture was a hobby common in most homes and Glen had an aquarium. He was also nicknamed Guppy.
Birthdays were important events in the Nugara home and being the youngest in the family of six and also the pet of the house, he was given more prominence. Besides inviting neighbours he would also invite his school mates and some names that come to mind are Melville Fernando and Rohan Chacko.
After completing school, Glen went into banking similar to the profession of his eminent father G.N. Nugara who was the first accountant of the Bank of Ceylon and one of its three founding executives.
Basically a simple man with neither conceit nor arrogance, this ‘blue black and blue forever’ thoroughbred Thomian whose bark was more effective than his bite, has gone his way.
Adios Glen, and thank you for the memories.
Wasantha Rajendran
Unforgettable memories of three special people
Lyn, Ellen and Chitran de Alwis
The late Alwises!
This was a favourite refrain of one of my aunts who fondly referred to our ‘lateness’ in turning up for her Christmas lunch every year.
We were a close-knit family, Lyn & Ellen de Alwis, Chitran and Nirmala their offspring, living a cloistered life, right in the belly of the Dehiwala zoo, the domain of my father as its Director. Our official bungalow was picturesque and private despite all the ruckus outside its gates, because the zoo boasted one of the largest animal collections in South Asia at the time. Our home was always busy with visitors both local and foreign. My mum was chef extraordinaire and needless to say, her meals were sumptuous spreads. She excelled in local and exotic food, topping it all off with a rich and ridiculously sweet dessert.
The family were always up on the deal when Sunday lunch entailed a spot of cricket on the lawn, cousins and uncles keeping a close tab on both the cricket and the cuisine.
All this gaiety though, came to an end as a very intense and illustrious career, peppered with political interference resulted in my dad becoming very ill and having to undergo open-heart surgery soon after retirement.
As God works in mysterious ways, it wasn’t the end, but it opened the door to an exciting new beginning for him, when he was summoned once again to Singapore to advise them on gaining fresh leverage in the competitive world of zoos as it was he that designed and conceptualised the Singapore zoo.
My dad refused to live there longer than two-month stints so while my brother and I took up residence in Singapore, my parents were shuttling to and from Sri Lanka.
The world’s first Night Safari was the result and the icing on the cake for my dad, just when he thought his work was done at 55 years of age.
My parents and my brother, were incredibly generous and loved lavishly as friends and relatives would agree. They were also fiercely private and cushioned us from many a calamity. They loved Sri Lanka and the service rendered so willingly and at great personal sacrifice is what helped us hold our heads high in a country besotted with corruption.
Chitran followed in my father’s footsteps creating incredible spaces by blending nature and beauty, reminiscent of the Dehiwala zoological gardens, a haven and oasis in a bustling Colombo suburb. Creativity and ideas flowed freely to them resulting in lasting beauty wherever they consulted.
Chitran my brother was my sounding board for many a crisis and his good old-fashioned advice still resonates in my head in stark contrast to the chaos of today. I miss him every day since he passed three months ago leaving me a sister to watch over and a void in the hearts of the many who knew and loved him.
And me? Well, only time will heal as God rolls the dice and now they’re gone, all three. Too early for me, but right on time for Him.
Nirmala de Alwis
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