Circular No 126

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 3 of April 2004. Circular No. 126

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Dear Friends,
I am trying to keep upto date, maybe by Easter Saturday!!!! I have some surprises to give you in the next few editions, so keep up your good work in placing names on the photos. Always mention the circular of the file name of the photo, so that I can file the answers and then write the names on the photos.

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From: "Cecil & Liz Ince" <shadowlawn@sunbeach.net>
Date: 10 Mar 15:08 (PST)

Dear Laszlo:
RICHARD DE VERTEUILS recollection of the Boy Scouts from Mount in Arima - 1948 - 56 years ago:
I actually lived opposite Lord Harris' Square where the group stayed under tents (I think) - I spent a lot of time with the boys I knew - ALAIN DEVAUX (Raymonds younger brother) - Arima was then a quiet town so the invasion of school friends (I was a day boy) from Mount was a great interlude.
My recollection of FATHER ILDEPHONSE - he expelled me from his History classes - I just could not grasp the subject due to a rather sketchy earlier education. In my more mature years, I developed a great love for the subject in general - a bit of irony. I wrote to 'SCROOTS' in the early 80's for some special occasion in his life, and he replied saying that he had not been a contented person, for most of his life and that it was only in the late 60's to early 70's that he had found the Lord. So we reconciled any hard feelings of my youth and his History classes.
FATHER BERNARD VLAAR, just weeks before he died, visited Barbados and for the first time, he and I spoke as adults - he said that the original objective of the Mount was to cater to a select elite group of boys - I was only a day boy from Arima - one of about nine or ten day boys - inference was that we were seen then as rather second class citizens - a bit of tokenism to the community on Mount's part. So of course, my achieving the Cambridge Exams of 1949 at First Grade was significant in my life -
NOEL LLANOS was 1948 - brilliant boy (I think l4) and he gained lst Grade and was awarded the JERNINGHAM Medal for his outstanding marks.
I called PETER BOOS - he was there 1954-55 and says he hears from you.
I tried STEPHEN TEMPRO who runs Smugglers Cove, a hotel on our West Coast (Payne's Bay) but got no reply.
SCIPIO SOODEEN lives 3 houses East of me - we became very friendly over the past several years - he celebrated his 72nd birthday some weeks ago. One of his daughters, NEYSHA, publishes from Trinidad - a highly successful glossy magazine called MACO - covers architecture and some culinary fancies indigenous to the Caribbean.
RICHARD DRIVER is a cousin of mine and lives somewhere on the West Coast of Canada.

My telephone number is 246-427-7521 - my fax at home is 246-228-1810.
JOHN DULIEU lives in St. Lucia - as per my last contact some years ago - sorry I cannot help more on him. Years, ago, he and his family lived several houses East of me on the same ridge when he was a Captain with the airline LIAT. (Lost contact with him also last year, ed)
Regret, I do not have any class photos - but my Form Four classmates (and most moved up to Form Five - with some who were in Form Five doing a repeat year.
ANGUS FRASER (studied for the Priesthood and was last heard of somewhere in Africa) -

LOUIS ACHE,
TREVOR EVELYN lives in Canada but we are in occasional phone contact -
HAMIL MARCELIN,
FATHER VINCENT COMPTON then a Seminarian -
GERALD FARINHA from then British Guiana - aborted his Seminarian studies when last I saw him over 30 years ago -
SYDNEY RAYMOND I think now a Priest -
RAYMOND DEVAUX,
RAYMOND 'FRENCHIE' VIVIES Guadeloupe - where he became a Prefect in Government.
ANTONY INKIM also from Arima. I do not recall if there were others.
Our Masters were:
DOM BASIL MATHEWS,
FATHER ILDEPHONSE, former was English Literature - latter Geography and History.
FATHER PAUL, Math's -
FATHER LEO, Latin,
FATHER CHYSOSTOM LEE SING - French and Spanish.
All for now - congrats on your superb effort to cement the group of yesteryears.
P.S. On February l5th - I spent one night at the Mount Guest House - Room #l4 - overlooking the airport and what has become a tapestry of colourful lights after sunset - sat on the bench which we used as day boys waiting for our Abbey Bus - some of my friends in that group were Franksie Cook, Ian Lee Kam (Guinea was his nickname) - Archie Didier and Anthony Inkim (the three of us usually came to Tunapuna from Arima on the same bus) -
DESMOND BRUNTON (brunts) -
PHILLIP (PIP) VIRE who were also in my class
I was unable to get into the College on this visit.
CECIL INCE

(I am sure that the new Abbot is going to change the routine so that when an oldboy, alumni would like to return to the Monastery, there is going to be a way to contact someone. Ed)
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A long resurrected letter written by Geoffrey W. Prada.
Caracas, 29 of October 1981

(here are excerpts from the letter. Ed.)
Got your letter. My credit cards show that my company is called "Maraven S.A." (ex compañia Shell de Venezuela) P.O.Box 829, Caracas 1010-A, Venezuela and that I am a programmer in the Cabotaje/Export of oils business, shipping what we got and sometimes what we a´int got. My credit is good - but payments are awful.
Heard from a friend last Sunday that Jack (Knaggs) has built a beanstalk shanty town style " hut" at Mayaro and the amazing thing is that he "lives" in the darn thing. They tell me that he flies often to Barbados to see his wife and kids. I knew Jack was crazy but not that loco. If he's happy then all is well but the family in Barbados is what I'm surprised to hear about.
Lisa and Ian are now with all the tribe in Canada. Heard Charles lost his business - try to enquire and let me know what's with him - he never wrote me a line in his life - guess he's illiterate like the rest of this crazy family. Mona is still in Trinidad but we had her daughter Elizabeth over for a couple of weeks and she told me she wants to live with us for a year or so before taking off to Canada. Mona wants to remain in Trinidad for reasons known only to her. The last time we went to Trinidad was when we were with you - I think that's when Lisa's eldest son got married. Since then, we have not traveled much - only to Aruba.
Venezuela (like most countries today) is taking a dive income and finance wise. Somebody once said that every time the world goes into an economical crisis - a world war comes along to wipe out half humanity so that the other half can be fed. But things are getting from bad to worse.
Sorry to learn about Fr. Bernard. Do you know if Fr. Ildephonse (he who whipped Charles (Prada) in the presence of the entire college) still alive? I sent Fr. Cuthbert a post card at the mount, but I doubt if he will reply to it. He maybe too busy to do so.
As the mail is closing in ten minutes, I'm stopping here. Write soon. Will give you details about my tribe next time and if I grow mad enough I may even send you a genuine photo.
Geoff (Geoffrey) Prada

(Sorry to inform his friends that I contacted the family and they told me that he passed away to the Lord some 5 years ago. I am enclosing a photo were he is with his wife Carmen Mercedes. I hope that those that were his classmates can follow up with a short note, so that I may include it in a future edition. Ed.)
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From: "c de marothy" <cdemarothy@nj.RR.com>
Date: 26 Mar 15:24 (PST)

I have just received this circular. I am missing quite a few. I can not help you with Harry Guildner Irwin Serrette, Greard Pampellone and Claude Johnson. I wish I could since they were in my class of 1959 I do know that Irwin lives in Trinidad and have phoned him when I was there for the reunion but did not have a chance to speak with him. I have to sadly report that Ronald Gokool has passed away about 10 years ago. I got this info from the Hilton hotel where he used to work and where I met him in 1979 when I visited Trinidad. I'll keep you informed of others as I hear from them. Please keep the circulars going. Also you please forward me circular 122 and 123. Seems I did not receive them
Thank you and stay well.
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From: "SEHEULT, MAC [1625]" <MAC.SEHEULT@cpkelco.com>
Date: 25 Mar 18:15 (PST)
To: Ladislao Kertesz <lkertesz2@icqmail.com>
Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Re. Circular No.124 The Abbey School MSB

Will return on 3/29/04; I can be reached through the Houston office.

(thank you for the automatic notification, God keep you in health. Ed.)
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Fr Abbot, please inform me on how an oldboy can meet one of the Monks when visiting the Monastery. I shall publish the procedure as soon as I get it. It is sad that after a couple of decades a returning oldboy, would feel being a stranger at MSB, our home for many years.
Can anyone recall the names given by Ince?
God Bless,
Ladislao

If any one recognizes the alumni in the following photos, please write!

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Photo: Geoffrey Prada 821 s126
From Roberto Bodington: file001a7 150 20 s126, file0001a8 150 15 s126
Wayne Vincent Brown's column can be seen at www.Jamaicaobserver.com,
Column: dbratt, special smiles
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