Priya (Gunaratna) de Silva

As informed earlier by e-mail, our dear friend (and class mate in Medical School) Priya passed away in the late hours of October 8th. Her demise is recorded here with much sadness. Funeral will take place at the General Cemetery Kanatta at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, 2014 (obituary notice shown below).

DE SILVA - DR PRIYA - Loving wife of Chula (LCR), doting mother to Sharini & Anjali, mother-in-law of Janaka Withana & Mathisha Nihalsingha, adoring grandmother to Gamunu, Kavya, Anagi & Vinod, daughter of the late C.R. Gunaratna PC & the late Monica Gunaratna, loving and loved sister/sister-in-law of the late Janaki & Andy de Silva, Rani & Dr. Parakrama Weerasekera, Rohini & Nihal Abeysekera, Rohantha & Charmaine Gunaratna, Srini & Rohan Karunaratne and Mithila & Shiranee Gunaratna. Cortege leaves 22/2, Nandimitra Place, Colombo 6 at 4 p.m. for Cremation at the General Cemetery Kanatta at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, 2014. (No flowers by request).

From the time I sent out the e-mail I have been receiving messages from members of our batch. I have reproduced below, those that have been received so far.

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Mahendra Gonsalkorale		Lucky, I am so sorry to hear this. I knew she was not well but her demise is still a shock. She was a truly brave and wonderful person and I am so glad that I was able to meet her last year and at the 50th. Could you provide me with email address of family so  that I can send my condolences. She was an exceptional and lovely person.  Speedy
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Nihal Amerasekera		Lucky Thank you for being in contact I am absolutely devastated by the sad news. We did our internship together in Kurunegala and shared our on calls in Paediatrics. I will write a tribute soon. ND
************************************************************************************** McCormick, Malkanthie Thank you for letting us know. I am so glad I came for the re union and was able to re connect with Priya. I am grateful for those memories. I still hear her spontaneous laughter and the positives attitude she had. Please convey our thoughts and prayers to her family. Malkanthie ******************************************************************************************************************* Ranjith Dambawinne Dear Lucky,  Many thanks for sending me this sad information. She was always a kind and considerate person. I did gather she was ailing for sometime.  I shall be very grateful to you, if you could pass on our  sympathies to her family.   from Dr. Ranjith &Neelangani Dambawinna   ***************************************************************************************************************** Sunanda Wickremesinghe   thanks for letting me know jimmy   ***************************************************************************************************************** appu sumathipala  Hi ,Lucky   Thank you lucky for sending the sad news.Priya was not a close friend of mine. there is no wonder why,as were not in the same group during the ANATOMY Block days and subsequent clinical attachements. it makes no difference,I share the same sorrow of other batch mates.  Sumathi          C A de Silva - Director Engineering, Maga Eng.(Pvt) Ltd       Dear Lucky, Many thanks for your message regarding Priya. In fact, I herad about her passing away from my brother, whose son is married to Priyas daughter. I am presently in USA on holiday and will not be able to attend the funeral. I shall convey my condolences to the family.  I met Priya at my brother's place about a month ago, before  I left Sri Lanka, and she looked quite fit.  Kind regards Swarna de Silva (nee Withana) Manel Pedris <manelpedris@gmail.com> Dear Lucky I was very sad to receive from you  news that my dear friend Priya (Gunaratne) de Silva had passed away. Thank you for informing me . I am at present abroad and therefore I will not be able to attend the funeral on Sat 11 Oct 2014. I would be very grateful if it is possible for you to send me the telephone number and email address of Chula de Silve. Thank you,   Manel   Lakshman Jayasinghe Dear Lucky Jecintha and I are very sad to hear the passing away of Priya. It was so nice to have had breakfast etc with her at the last reunion. Please convey our condolences to Chula and family. Lakshman J ************************************************************************************************************** Sanath de Tissera                Hi Lucky Thank you for letting me know. It is very sad news indded. I worked with Priya during internship under "Uncle" (Paediatrician). Pleasant memories. We had no contact since. Cheers Sanath  ************************************************************************************************************** Antony Ernest Dear Lucky, Please convey our deepest sympathies to Priya's family.We were aware of her serious medical problems.No matter what,it is never easy to lose someone near and dear to you. Cyril and Indranie Ernest.   ******************************************************************************************************************** doczita@aol.com   I heard about this with great sadness. I want to add my voice to those of all others. All I can think of is how lucky we were all, to meet her at the Reunion in 2012. Thanks for keeping us informed. Zita ************************************************************************************************************************************* Batuwitage Geetha Shriyani   Dear all Our deepest sympathy on sad loss of a colleague,our thoughts are with the family & colleagues. Batu & family ******************************************************************************************************************************* Lakshman Weerasooriya Dear Lucky,   Thanks for letting me know Re Priya's Passing away. She had mentioned she was not well at the last re union. I am glad I was able to meet her then. Her older brother was my classmate at Royal.Am deeply sorry . Please convey our sympathies to her family   Lucky and Ruvini Weerasooriya Dr. Razaque Ahamat   It is with deep sense of sadness that Farina and I received the news of the passing away of our most dear friend. To me she was more than a friend or a batch mate..... in the recent years---- a soul mate. We have been in contact albeit irregularly-regularly via e-mail in the  recent years. I shall be contacting Chula soon on the same e-mail address presuming it  is a shared one. I shall be writing a longer appreciation in due course.   Razaque and Farina Chitta Thiagarajah I am really sorry hear Priya's demise. Please convey my condolence to the family Chitha Thiagarajah California              ************************************************************************************************** R. Nadarajah   Dear Lucky   Sorry to hear the sad news about Prya.It is shocking to hear that another batchmate has left us.She was a good hearted pleasant girl. Please convey my deepest sympathies to the entire family   Sincerely ,   Ravi Nadaraja . MD.FACS   ***************************************************************************************************************