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Remembering my friend Mervyn

 


Dear RTC friends. 

For the third time this month I have received sad news about RTC college friends I knew well who have died.I hope there won't be any more for a long time.  Romano Sequeira sent me this announcement that he received from Mervyn's sister, Roseleen.

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Remembering my friend Mervyn:

Mervyn was in the second batch of students admitted to the RTC (Faculty of Engineering) so I had the pleasure of his company for a year before I proceeded to Britain to continue my undergraduate studies. I have rarely met a more charming and accomplished person than Mervyn. He graduated from the Goan High School Mombasa, where he distinguished himself both academically and as an all-round sportsman good enough to be selected for adult Goan Institute hockey and cricket teams. 

He excelled in all sports but specially in Cricket where he played a key role in the RTC team winning the prestigious Commercial League Cricket Tournament in 1963. He had a natural flair for any sport whether it was hockey or snooker or golf. He enjoyed the outdoors and climbed Kilimanjaro with Outward Bound. For all I know, he probably defeated all comers in darts and tiddlywinks in his local pub in Brighton! For goodness sake, if most of us in a moment of rashness stepped in a boxing ring, we would end up with a broken nose or, as happened in in my case, a black eye. Mervyn? You'll find his name on the RTC Boxing Honours Board!

Socially, he was the complete package. Handsome, with twinkling grey eyes and an infectious smile, and an easy grace on the dance floor, he had the ladies eating out of his hand. I once told him jokingly that I hated him for being such a consummate ladies' man. Looking back, I'm not sure I was joking or plain envious! Mervyn was really one of the most popular students in the College on or off the field. It is not surprising that he was chosen to be the College's representative to attend the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome!

Our paths diverged after I left the RTC but I have no doubt that he had a successful career and a happy life in Kenya and later in Britain. 

On October 7 this year, he was admitted to hospital with gallbladder issues. A week later, on October 13, the devastating news came that he had passed away peacefully but unexpectedly. His untimely death has come as a shock to his loving family and many friends. Messages of condolence and tributes have poured in from all over the world. A loving and caring person in life, Mervyn touched the lives of all who met him. May he rest in peace.

Francis Noronha

It is indeed sad to get the news of the passing of Mervyn De'Souza.
I knew him well mainly because of his participation in sports. I was in the same
Cricket Team that won the Commercial Shield in 1963. ( In fact, I am sitting to his right in the
photo. He was also in the Table Tennis Team with Satish Talwar and myself.
He was a champion and a team player. My sincere condolences to his family members
and may he rest in peace. 

  Pravin Ghelani 

Photographs: 
In the 1960-61 Cricket team photograph, he is seated fifth from left.
In the 1963 Commercial League winners photograph, he is seated second from left.
In the family picture, Mervyn is standing at the back between his sisters.










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