According to one Selvarani, who had informed Sriani, Sue had been in a hospice in Las Vegas battling ovarian cancer. Sriani's friend Selvarani thinks that Sue's daughters had been with her.
May she rest in peace.
Please see Sriani's e-mail below.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sriani Basnayake <srianib@sltnet.lk>
Date: 17 July 2018 at 21:50
Subject: RE: Sue Ratnavel - sad news
To: Lucky Abey <adnl1102@gmail.com>
Lucky, I think the Selvarani mentioned in Aru’s e-mail, is Selvarani Sinnatamby, (sister of Dr Chummy Sinnatamby) who was in the same class as Sue, Arundathy and myself, at Ladies College.
Sriani.
Sriani
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing us the sad news of the loss of yet another batch-mate. I remember Sue so well. She was a lady in the true sense of the word and carried herself with confidence, poise and dignity. Sue came from a long line of distinguished professionals some of whom taught us at medical school. Sue was one of a group of students who joined us half way through our course from Peradeniya. They were a valued addition to our batch and jelled with us perfectly. After 1967 our paths never crossed and I never met her again. I can still recall her young smiling face. On behalf of the batch I send our condolences to Sue's family.
May she find everlasting peace.
So sorry to receive this sad news. I haven't met Sue since leaving Med faculty. She was a lovely person. My sincere condolences to her family.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sriani and Lucky-
ReplyDeleteThis news saddens me deeply. I made several attempts to get in touch with Sue about an year or so ago,but failed. I was unaware of her illness.
There was much we had to talk about- the hours we spent together in our teen years were many. Having lived close to school we shared many experiences together and talked of many things- from teenage “crushes” to US presidential elections ! It was JFK vs Nixon at that time, and Sue was a great fan of JFK
(Who wasn’t !)
Though Sue could have had her head up in the clouds, she was very “down to earth” and sincere, so we easily shared our innermost feelings with each other. Iam sorry I lost touch with her, but those wonderful memories will remain with me always.
May she find eternal peace.
I didn't know Sue that closely, being just a "nodding acquaintance" as a batch colleague. However, I endorse all the comments made by others, not only on the blog but in personal e-mails. I have had prompt e-mails from Pram, Malkanthi, Swyrie, Speedy, Rohini Ana (both Speedy and Rohini make full use of the Internet, reading e-mail regularly and also visit the blog frequently), Chitra Perera, Ranjith Kariyawasam, Swini Iyer, Lakshman Jayasinghe and Cyril. I am bound to receive many more in the coming days.
ReplyDeleteI sent out the "general" e-mail mainly for the benefit of those who don't visit the blog, but nevertheless read e-mails. I simply pity those who don't do either, especially those who have not even provided an e-mail address. They remain in the dark and miss out on all the news.
Getting back to Sue and comments about her sad demise, the one above made by her close friend from school days Rohini Ana, succinctly describes Sue as one who could have had her head up in the clouds, but was very “down to earth”. From what Cyril (and wife Indrani) had said in an e-mail, I gathered that Sue has had a prolonged illness.
I am very grateful to Sriani Dissanayake Basnayake and Vasanthy Thuraisingham Perera for conveying to me the sad news about Sue so promptly. Being so far away, we can only condole in this manner when we lose a batch colleague. All this would not have been possible unless close friends (like Sriani and Vasanthy in this instance) inform me, the person who has voluntarily undertaken this task of disseminating information.
Thank you Lucky for all you do to keep us informed of our batchmates. How would I have come to know anything about any of them if not through the blog !
DeleteI am here today- but may be gone tomorrow- and I wish to say how much I have valued the friendship some batchmates have extended to me as a result of the blog. Thank you all-
Lucky, I’ll advise my family to inform you when Iam gone so you won’t think Iam ignoring your emails !
Thanks for the blog.
I,too, associate myself with the batch-mates who have expressed their memories of Sue and conveyed their condolences.I,very well remember Sue as a beautiful,down to earth,young lady.I may be wrong,but her association most of the time was with her own school mates,during her "under graduate days".
ReplyDeleteIf,not for the internet communication,I would have been in the dark as to what went on with our own crowd.Lucky!among us there are horses who can be lead and who can n't lead to water.Do n't think your time and efforts are lost, after all.Vast numbers of our batch are benefitting from your brainchild.
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DeleteSumathi,
DeleteThanks for being part of this blog into which Lucky has invested a lot of time assisted by Mahen and Nihal.Better late than never.
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DeleteHi!Indra,Every time I see a contribution from you,in the blog column,my memories goes back to our good old days at Ratnapura,General.You,might well remember how we started Inferon?(iron dextran) IV to very anaemic pregnant mothers,under close supervision.I,am sure we were the first to use IV in Sri-Lanka,at that time.
DeleteYou might also remember depleting nicotinic acid ampoules in ward no.12.The caring nurse in ward 12 had a headache with those ampoules."GOD"only knows why they were stored in the first place.Thinking about it,now,I am sure we would have lowered the blood lipids,in those ever obliging patients.Just imagine the amount of pain at the site of the prick and the subsequent flushing,poor patients had to bear with.
Sorry for deviating from the main topic of paying our respect a good old batch-mate.
Good to see your contributions from time to time.
Thank you Sumathi, for your encouraging words.
ReplyDeleteThis is Zita. I am very sad to hear of Sue Ratnavel's death. I knew her very well before she left Sri Lanka after qualification. The strange thing is that she was working in South Wales when I arrived there after more than two years after qualifying. Thereafter I did not hear from her or about her. I am sad to hear that such a beautiful, talented person is no more. I can't escape the fact that we either hear of these things or next thing is some others hear about us in the same situ. I am quite ready for all of you to hear about my demise! So let us do for one another what good we can while we are here.
ReplyDeleteMy condolences to Sue's family. We can imagine how they feel. Zita
Hello my friends, I write this with a heavy heart, after having heard of Sue's passing yesterday. I believed she passed away peacefully on Monday with her family and two friends from UK at her side. I knew her well at Ladies' and participated in a school play with her (Merchant of Venice, no less!). She was Bassanio and I was Antonio! We did only a couple scenes for a house drama competition, and she was very good. I know that she kept a low profile when she joined our batch, because that transfer was a parental decision and not her own. She kept in close touch with her Peradeniya batchmates, however. I reconnected with her after our 25th reunion in Windsor, UK. She came with Mahes and Kumar de Silva. She reached out to me when she heard that I was suddenly laid off from my pathology job at Quest Diagnostics, in Connecticut. It was a corporate decision to lay off pathologists, and Sue arranged for me to interview with her group in Las Vegas. It was a lovely gesture on her part, and I enjoyed visiting her, but didn't move to Nevada. Ironically, Quest took over her group too, and Sue retired from practicing pathology several years later. She came out to visit me about 10 years ago and we both had a wonderful time visiting some of our LC friends who live within driving distance. We talked about doing it again, but life interfered. She did tell me about her diagnosis, after which she had a few good years. When it recurred, she made the wise decision to enter hospice care. She was very private and did not want to discuss her illness with many people. Sue was a very bright person, interested in many things. After she retired I think she followed a course discussing Shakespeare at a local University. I loved talking to her on the phone and hearing about the latest book she had read, or discussing politics. (Obviously, we had a lot to say about that recently!) She had a great sense of humor and never felt sorry for herself. She was very 'matter of fact' about her illness. I believe that many of her cousins came to visit her from distant places. My last conversation was probably in May after I came back from Sri Lanka. She said she was weakening, and I am sorry I didn't get to call her after that. I did try to reach her on her birthday, July 1, but only managed to leave a voice mail. I really hope that she was able to listen to that message and know that I was thinking of her. I was going to try to call her again before leaving on another trip today when I heard that she had left us. One is always left with regrets that we could have done more... I apologize to the "Blog friends" that I have been absent from this forum for a while. It is very important that we stay in touch. Sue will be missed. May she Rest in Peace.
ReplyDeleteSrianee, thanks ever so much for writing. You have given an insight into her character. I hardly knew her but she was obviously a very strong character who dealt with her illness with courage and fortitude. You were a good friend to her and I am sure she felt the same about you. This is life, with its beautiful friendships and sadly, the inevitable partings. I shall end by once again thanking you for your lovely post about your friend who is no more and quoting Somerset Maugham.
Delete“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.”
Srianee, Thank you for this info on Sue.
DeleteI wish I knew you were in touch with her , I might have found a way of getting in touch with her. I even tried the practice where she had been working but didn’t get anywhere. It was not meant to be.
Rohini, I'm sorry I didn't know that you were attempting to get in touch with Sue. She would have loved to have heard from you. If not for this Blog I would not have reconnected with you (Thank you, Lucky!). Mahen, thanks for the SM quote. You have spurred me to re-read some of his stories.
DeleteSriani, thanks a lot for fleshing out for us the character of, to me, a reclusive kind of life of Sue Ratnavel, while in fact she seems to have been a fantastic, talented and thoughtful human being who now sadly is no more for us to interact with. So I am doubly glad to hear about everyone's experiences regarding this remarkable person.
DeleteI thank our Blog for being the medium through which we interact with our friends and batch mates and even gain knowledge about those who have passed on. With my condolences to Sue Ratnavel's family and thanks to our Blog, I am Zita (always 'late')
'I remember Sue Ratnavel quite well.She was a pretty quiet girl who kept to herself most of the time Sue and a few other girls joined us from Peradeniya because their parents wanted to break-up their affairs! The others were , Sriani Dissanayayake, Manel Ratnavibushana, Thanaball's sister and Vasanthy Thuraisingham. The transfers "worked for all of them except for Thanaball's sister who married her Peradeniya boy friend eventually.
ReplyDeleteMay Sue rest in peace!
Sanath
Lama I want to correct you on one fact you mention Manel Ratnavibushana was transferred from Pera not because of an affair but on sympathetic grounds.She was the oldest in a family of 10 ( i think ) and had recently lost her mother. I remember very well how Vishwa in his characteristic way made all the girls transfered from Pera stand up during a Gynaecology lecture and ask Owlie " who's daughter are you ?"
DeleteSuri, thanks for settling the record straight about our transferred colleagues. I think we all have to be careful about our comments. Anything that can be considered "Tabloid Gossip" should not be included in the Blog. This is a public forum after all. You also have a very good memory, because I don't remember the incident concerning Viswa. How humiliating! We put up with a lot of sexist garbage in our day, didn't we?
DeleteI too heard from Selvarani of the passing Of Sue Ratnavale. I too have good memories of Sue, she attended the same church as I did and was the crush of a close friend of mine. When she transferred from Peradeniya, she was seated next to me for our lectures and being from the same church we used to chat quire a bit. After we graduated I met at our 25th reunion In England. She contacted me about a job in California. A few weeks ago Ranjan Hulugalle called me to let me know that she was in Hospice at her daughters in San Diego and wanted to know if I was available to visit her. Unfortunately I was traveling at that time and was planning to visit her with Ranjan and his wife Roshan in August, unfortunately it was not to be. Yes she was a quiet soft spoken and a simple girl who bore her misfortunes trouble and pain with Grace.
ReplyDeleteMay god grant her peace.
Nice to see you on the Blog Rajan. I knew Sue was a good friend to you and of her many admirers. Hope to see more of you on the Blog.
DeleteAs I have said in a previous comment, I hardly knew Sue in Med School and obviously not since graduation. But I have got to know about her inner self after the inevitable, from the comments of her close friends - especially Srianee and Rajan. As usual, Sanath in making his comment, has lived up to his outspokenness (I heard from my old Ananda College class mate and friend Susantha Jayasena that Sanath was visiting Panama. That explains why his comment was delayed. Welcome back, Sanath. My friend SJ is Honorary Consul for Panama in Sri Lanka and is married to a doctor).
ReplyDeleteWe can now understand why we had not heard about Sue's terminal illness.
There has been an outpouring of grief from our batch at the sad news and the loss of yet another beautiful life. Sue and I being at wrong ends of the alphabet we were never close. Her sheer beauty did turn heads. Although I was present at the London Reunion I gravitated towards close friends and there were many and never recognised Sue at the gathering. My thanks to Srianee and Patas for giving me a glimpse of her life since to help bring some closure.
ReplyDeleteWe are at a certain age now when life is less certain. We know not what tomorrow will bring. Let us enjoy life, family and friends before the call comes.
I was so sad to hear of Sue passing away. I knew her rather well through the activities of the S C M. Sue was a beautiful girl both within and without. She was clever but never tried to show off. In spite of her famous father and her very affluent back ground she was never proud or haughty. I remember her for her gentle sweet nature, her kind ways and her radiant smile.
ReplyDeleteI also remember singing at her wedding with the S C M choir, at St Paul's Milagiriya Church. She was a breathtakingly beautiful bride and the lovely reception she had in her palatial home. She will always be fondly remembered. Good Bye Sue. May you rest sweetly in the arms of Jesus
I met Sue Ranavale at Peradeniya. Sue was one of six girls of the first batch residing at Sangamitta hall when we moved in. She was the epitome of dignity, beauty and intelligence. Sue stood out among all. She was the rare senior who had a benevolent smile for us juniors during the ‘rag’ week. Sue and I got transferred to Colombo around the same time and I was fortunate to get to know her more closely. We had to complete a paediatric appointment by ourselves as this had already been covered by those in the Colombo Batch. She was concerned that I had to walk alone to LRH from the hostel and would pick me up daily in her car. Regrettably I lost contact with her later on and was unaware of her illness.
ReplyDeleteSue you were a rare personality, modest, compassionate and above all a good friend. I was fortunate to know you. May you rest in peace.
Manel
Manel, I endorse everything you've said about Sue. She was a beautiful person, in every way.
DeleteSuri, I am fairly sure of my facts. Why don't you contact Manel and ask her why she was transferred to Colombo. Was it because she was "one of ten" or because of ONE other person!
ReplyDeleteSanath
This is Zita. I have been silently reading the comments above and learning more and more about Sue Ratnavale and admiring her and appreciating her even at this late hour. She has obviously touched the hearts and lives of many and her type of life is what should be exemplary to all human beings. I am glad you are all voicing your knowledge of her various qualities and hope that more than our generation will read these and emulate her. Rest in Peace, Sue. We are honoured to have known you. From Zita
ReplyDelete