Cecil Saverimuthu passes away
Just received the sad news that Cecil Saverimuttu has passed away. He emigrated to Australia and was a GP in Perth, Western Australia. He was one of many distinguished school cricketers to enter the Medical Faculty that year. Both Cyril Ernest and Cecil came from St Benedict’s.
Australia had her fair share from our batch. Kumar Gunawardene
(Cardiologist), Lakshman Jayasinghe (Neuroradiologist). Sanath de Tissera
(Psychiatrist), Easwaran Kanapathipillai, Irwin Herath, Cecil Saverimuthu
(Perth, Western Australia), Kamini Goonewardene (Ferdinando), and General
Physician Kamala Nimalasuriya (De Silva), Virginia Swan (De Vos). Lakshmi Chellappah (Melbourne). The names of the deceased are in italics. (My apologies for the confusion caused in the original pos)t.
I remember him as a tall and handsome chap. The Batch photo is shown.
He is the 48th from our batch to pass away and the
first in 2023.
More details to follow. Please send me more details about him and his family.
We extend our deepest sympathies to his family.
Please convey my deepest sympathies to his family.
ReplyDeleteMay he Rest In Peace
As far as I am aware, Virginia Swan is alive and well and she contributed to our Blogspot recently. The deceased are Irwin Herath, Kamini Gunawardene, Kamali Nimalasuriya and Cecil Saverimuthu.
My (deceased in italics) followed Virginia’s name and caused the misunderstanding in Sanath’s mind. It was meant to show that the names of deceased were in italics. I shall edit that line to avoid confusion!
ReplyDeleteIt was with great sadness I received the news of the demise of yet another batchmate, Cecil Saverimuttu. Being at either end of the alphabetical destiny of our seating arrangements in the lecture halls we rarely met at lectures but we made that up in the canteen and Men’s Common Room where we played Table Tennis and shared the endless gossip of our time.
ReplyDeleteDuring my ‘misspent’ youth I was an inveterate spectator of school cricket watching many of the good games and recall with great clarity his fine performances as a fast bowler for St Benedicts. The team was captained by the veteran, Elmo Rodrigopulle. The team included some fine all rounders like Cyril Ernest who later played for Sri Lanka and was in the University team that won the Sara Trophy.
I had the good fortune to visit Australia in 2009. I met up with Sanath de Tissera who was a Psychiatrist in Perth. He invited Cecil and his wife for dinner when we were with him. This was a wonderful meeting when we recalled the good times in the faculty and discussed cricket. Cecil was a fine raconteur and had many humorous stories to entertain us all. He was then a happy family man with two sons. His wife is solicitor. Cecil practiced medicine as a GP and was popular and well respected by the community he served. He was helpful in the extreme to the many who needed his care. Cecil’s helpful kindness will be sorely missed by the many who depended on his generosity.
He bore his long illness with great courage and fortitude.
I send my condolences to his family at this time of grief. May his Soul Rest in Peace.
I remember the RC vs SBC cricket match played at Reid Avenue, where Quintus Perera of SBC scored a hurricane innings of about 80 odd runs with plenty of sixes. I wonder whether Cecil was a member of that team?
ReplyDeleteI remember watching that game from Reid Av. Quintus Perera hit 11 sixes and 14 fours in a cavalier innings. If I remember right Royal still won the game. That was 1960 when the Bens were captained by Elmo Rodrigopulle. Cyril Ermest and Cecil Saverimuttu played in the team. Royal Capt was Nanda Senanayake and Daya Sahabandu was at his best.
DeleteNihal, Our captains were 1959-Sarath Samarasinghe,1960-Michael Dias 1961-Nanda Senanayake, 1962- Darrell Lieversz and 1963- SS Kumar. Darrell and Shanthi Kumar belonged to our '54 Group and I left school at the end of 1960.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the demise of yet another batch mate. I think Cecil Saverimuttu was a quiet guy and our paths did not cross very much. My condolences to his family. He seems to have been a remarkable person.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I am amazed at the cricket details that are often shared on this blog by the likes of Sanath Lama and Nihal!! My brain does not retain sports trivia!
Srianee
DeleteGood to see you on the Blog. Trust you are enjoying the sumptuous curries and the love of friends and family.
Trivia?? Cricket is never trivia. It was like a matter of life and death at the time. Feel the buzz even now thinking about them.
Received this email from Cyril Ernest
ReplyDeleteDear ND (Nihal),
It was shocking news indeed to hear of my dear buddy’s demise. He was a classmate of mine at St. Benedict’s College and also a team mate in the cricket team in I believe in 1959 or 1960. He was a tall and lanky opening bowler of no mean repute.
I last met him in Perth in the year 2005, where he took me and my wife to his house to enjoy a sumptuous Sri Lankan dinner. I also met Dr. Sanath Pieris another batchmate at his house. Cecil was a charming Doctor, always smiling and I believe he was a GP.
We are in our 80’s now and soon it will be our turn to call it quits.
My sincere sympathies to his family at his demise.
Sincerely,
Cyril/Indranie Ernest.
It was with much sadness that I learnt of the passing away of Cecil S, another of our cherished colleagues and friends.The image of him in the prime of his youth made it even more poignant. I’m sure we all would like to remember him thus; tall big, made,with a ready smile, always gentle and genial and never intimidating. He like Cyril Ernest, and late Ranjith Kururuppu and Elmo Samuel ( our immediate senior) were the epitomes of Benedictine sportsmen. They carried their sporting laurels lightly.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the alphabetical tyranny distanced us, we interacted frequently in the Common Room; in the Great Dispersal of 1967 we both went our own ways. Many years later when Kanthi and I were in Perth WA,
he, Shiranthi and their two sons hosted us and a couple of mutual friends to an enchanted evening. Reminiscences, banter ,delicious food and wine flowed freely.
Thank you Sanath T for enlightening us of his many good deeds and philanthropy. They would have been typical of the man. As Sophocles the great Greek playwright remarked “ to be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task”.
Kanthi and I wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to Shiranthi and family.
May his soul R.I.P
Kumar
I am not aware of Ranjith Kuruppu's achievements in the sporting field. What were those?
ReplyDeleteDear Mahen et al,
ReplyDeleteAnother colleague of ours in Australia is Lakshmi Chelappah. She lives in Melbourne and keeps in touch with me.
Kumar
Thanks, Kumar. I shall add her name to the post
Delete