Some Interesting Anthonian Personalities
By Brother Vincent Corkery
Interviewed by Louis Rozario Doss
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| Brother Vincent Corkery |
Date: 14th August
2015
Venue: Ipoh, Malaysia
Q Brother Vincent, tell us about your association
with St Anthony’s,Teluk Intan.
I have been closely associated with St Anthony’s
since the 1950s. I was a member of the Board of Governors and I used to make
regular visits to the school from my base at St Michael’s Institution, Ipoh.
The brothers of both our schools were close associates and it used to be a
tradition somewhat for Brother Directors to move from St Michael’s to St
Anthony’s as happened in the case of Bother Denis Hyland and Brother Finan
Owen.
Q You were a close friend of Brother Alban D’
Rozario ( Director SAS 1960s). Tell us about him.
Brother Alban d’ Rozario was born in Kuala Kubu
Bharu, Selangor. He was a Malacca-Eurasian
of Portuguese extraction. His father worked as a hospital assistant. He came
from a devout Catholic family and throughout his lfe Brother Alban was a strict
disciplinarian. He was warm-hearted and truly generous in spirit but he never
sacrificed his principles. I knew him from his Singapore days where he was
Director of St Patrick’s. The community of Brothers under him had a stricter regimen than in other communities –
they were only allowed one bottle of beer and one stout at Christmas. That was
their ration for the whole year! Nevertheless ,he was greatly esteemed for his
personal piety and his deep faith in the Lasallian cause.
Q Could you
tell us of any particular defining episode which reflects Brother Alban’s blend of generosity and strictness?
I remember many but I think the following is the
best one from his Singapore years. When Brother Alban was the Director of St
Patrick’s, a student who had not passed his Form Four requested for a school leaving certificate
attesting that he had completed his Form Four at St Patrick’s. Brother Alban in
his generosity added some remarks to the effect that the student was a
respectful and obedient fellow who had done well at his studies. These remarks
were designed to help the chap obtain work
as he did not qualify to do his Form Five. A few days later, this
student barged into Brother Alban’s office and demanded to be admitted to Form
Five on the strength of the good words in Brother Alban’s report in the
school-leaving certificate. Brother Alban, with his great calmness, looked him
in the face then promptly tore up the school-leaving certificate and threw the
shreds into his wastepaper basket. Then, in no uncertain terms, he pointed to
the door saying “ You can get lost now.”
Q Could you share your memories of Brother Senan?
Brother Senan served at St Anthony’s in the 1860s.
He was the architect of the Anthonian library and used to offer the latest wild
West cowboy movies after school to attract more students to the school library. The revenue from ticket sales (50 sen per show) was used to fund the library
which was the catalyst of a strong reading culture at St Anthony's. Another wonderful
accomplishment of Brother Senan was that he learnt Braille and developed
materials for reading by the visually handicapped. This was something he did in
his later years in Singapore and in
Castletown,Ireland , where he spent his retirement years. I also
remember that he was among the first to master the use of the computer.
Q You were also close to Brother Benignus. Tell us
about him.
In
my early teaching years (1950s) , Brother Benignus and I were thick friends.
What brought us together was our shared love of cycling. We used to enjoy
cycling round Singapore island (literally) in those days. It used to take us six
hours. Brother Benignus was already hard of hearing in those days. On one occasion,
we were cycling together when I had a tyre puncture. He didn’t hear my
desperate calls for help and simply went on cycling ahead for an hour before he
realized I was missing! Of course, my faithful friend came back to my aid when he
realized I was not immediately behind. For that one hour, I was a lost soul,
not knowing what to do as I was still a novice at mending punctures. Benildus, on
his return, did all the work to get me going again. This is only one facet of a
truly multifaceted Benignus.You will surely learn more about this wonderful person from his hundreds of adoring students!
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